Talib appeals to Imran to rescue sports

KARACHI: Pakistan’s most experienced athletics coach and physical trainer Muhammad Talib has appealed to PM Imran Khan to intervene to halt Pakistan's slide in sports.

Talking to 'The News' on Tuesday, Talib, who has run Athletic Fitness School (AFS) for 38 years in Karachi, said the country’s sports had taken a plunge because of the wrong policies of successive governments, sports organisers with vested interest, and parallel associations.

He said that PM Imran Khan should call those who had devoted their lives for the promotion of various sports disciplines and helped Pakistan win a number of victories and medals at the international level.

Talib said the refusal of FIFA delegation to meet Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) officials should serve as an eye-opener for the federal government. “Hockey, Pakistan’s national game, is passing through its worst crisis. We are out of the World Cup and the Olympics. In boxing, we won more than 50 medals under the dynamic leadership of Professor Anwer Chaudhary, but now we even fail to qualify for major competitions. Squash was Pakistan’s identity across the world for more than five decades, but now we don't have anyone who can be called a world-class player,” Talib said.

He said Pakistan had failed to produce any champion in any of the 14 athletics disciplines for a long time. “In wrestling, Pakistan regularly won medals in various international level events in the past. We used to dominate yachting and rowing at Asian level. There are other disciplines too in which Pakistan used to produce a number of players who dominated at the international level. But all that is history. We are no longer a force in any sports except cricket,” said the seasoned coach.

“If PM Imran Khan, who himself has been one of the greatest sportsmen Pakistan has produced, does not take notice of these things, then who will,” Talib said. “Unfortunately, we no longer have people like Justice Cornelius, Professor Chaudhary, Air Marshal Nur Khan, Brig Hamidee, Brig Atif , A H Kardar. But we still have some great sports organisers like Chaudhary Yaqoob of volleyball, S M Sibtain of table tennis, whose experience could help the country come out of this crisis,” said Talib.

Talib said that sports associations were more interested in getting votes in elections than organising events and producing international-level players. “The players who are doing well have not been groomed by sports bodies. They have done everything on their own like tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq,” he added.

He said that a number of parallel associations had been created in the country to gain votes. He said events like marathon had been made a joke in the country. “Those who don't have sports background are organising events by the name of city Olympics and marathons of a few kilometers, with the help of provincial and local government high officials, including commissioners and deputy commissioners to get the government funds,” Talib added.

He said the bureaucracy was also responsible of the deterioration in sports because it patronised fake bodies to misuse the funds. Talib said it was surprising that the National Assembly and Senate standing committees were calling those very people for suggestions who had brought about the decline in sports. “It is because the members of these committees don't know the importance of sports,” he added.

He said that the committees should call Arif Abbasi, Majid Khan, Sibtain, Behram D Avari, Ali Akbar Shah, and others who wanted to give suggestions to the government about how the tide can be turned. “It is unfortunate that there is no federal sports minister and all sports affairs have been left to the ministry of IPC which has to take care of a lot of other things. In the current circumstances sports need a separate ministry to resolve longstanding issues,” said Talib.

He appreciated the services of Chaudhary Yaqoob who he said had passionately run volleyball in the country and helped Pakistan win at the international level. He said that PTI government should call an open meeting of old sports stalwarts of the country to find out the solutions to the problems. “Otherwise the existing sports organisers would continue to get funds through different methods and have joy trips,” he said.

He regretted that Pakistan had been banned in some sports, but the people heading their bodies were not ready to give up their positions. Talib appealed to the PM to order the officials concerned to at least hold inter-school competitions regularly. He mentioned that there was no need to allocate huge amount of funds for this purpose as the infrastructure was already available.