Disgruntled federations slam PSB

KARACHI: Sports fraternity is not happy with the way Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) is working. According to sources, the PSB has started demanding Rs200 per head as accommodation fee if any federation wants to hold a camp at the Pakistan Sports Complex, Islamabad.“It’s a very bad situation. In the past whenever we wanted to hold camp at the Pakistan Sports Complex Islamabad we would never give accommodation fee to the Board. But now we have been told that we will have to bear accommodation fee of Rs200 per head during the players’ stay at the hostels. It’s totally wrong and unbearable,” an official of a federation told this correspondent, adding that the PSB headquarters in Islamabad had been showing deserted look as there were no camps.

“Several events are ahead next year, also including Olympic qualifiers but nothing is being done by the government. If the state cannot run sports then it should disband everything,” an official of a federation reacted.

It has also been learnt that the acting Director General of the PSB Khaqan Babar is not cooperating with the federations.“Khaqan is not efficient at least for handling sports. When you put up a file before him he does not take it seriously and so is wasting the time of the federations and players. I think it would be better if he is removed. It’s time for the government to bring in a full-time, professional DG,” a source, who runs a strong federation, said.

Since retirement of the then DG PSB Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera earlier this year, the Board has mostly been run by acting Director Generals. Those with strong reputation faced early removal also due to political intervention.

About the audit of the federations, sources in federations said it was the right of the state to conduct audit of the federations.However some officials questioned what the government was giving to the federations.

“We get hardly Rs1.5 million annual grant and through this amount one cannot do anything. Even a single national event is not possible with this amount,” a federation official said.“You cannot run sports with such budget. Look at India. They are spending huge amount on sports but still in some disciplines we can compete with them,” an official said.

Federations questioned the lack of interest of the government in sports.“Look, not a single word was used by the Prime Minister Imran Khan during his speech on Thursday regarding the government’s 100-day performance. He himself has been a sportsman but we don’t find him serious and focused on the subject which is equally important,” a federation official said.

According to sources, the PSB gymnasium always remains opened for its members but not for the athletes who prepare for featuring in international competitions.“Even Liaquat Gymnasium housed in the Pakistan Sports Complex Islamabad is not in good condition. Its lighting system is also not good enough for games like basketball and volleyball,” a source said.