Awards ceremony or money-making exercise?

KARACHI: Are holding awards ceremonies becoming a business? That’s the question on the minds of Pakistan’s sports community as an obscure group of people are hosting the so-called ‘Pakistan Sports Awards’ at a local hotel on Saturday.

The organisers behind the project have tried to give legitimacy to the Awards by garnering the support of Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik but the thing is that no private enterprise is authorised to hold any such awards ceremony.

No major sports body like the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) or the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) are in the loop for the PSA, which many stakeholders in Pakistan sports believe could just be a money-making exercise.

“Who are these people, who has given them the right to hold Pakistan Sports Awards,” says seasoned sports journalist Ehsan Qureshi.

He urged Pakistan’s sports authorities to look into the matter and take steps to declare these awards null and void. “Awards at the national level can only be staged by bodies which have the authority to do so. The name Pakistan is being used and that’s clearly not acceptable,” he said.