PTI body seeks to uplift football and boost Pakistan’s presence at Olympics

KARACHI: The president of the Central Governing Committee of the Insaaf Sports and Culture Wing Shah Zaman Alam on Monday said that the committee’s main objectives are to lift football in Pakistan and to dig out the root cause of the country’s inability to ensure the presence of more athletes in Olympics.

“We have two objectives. The first is that we are to lift the game of football and the second is to find what has obstructed Pakistan’s sports growth,” Shah told ‘The News’ after chairing the first meeting of the committee at the PTI central secretariat in Islamabad on Monday. “We send only a few athletes to Olympics despite having a huge population and enormous talent,” he said.

“We will also hold a meeting with the Ministry of IPC Dr Fehmida Mirza and the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) to discuss the main issues and how we could bring improvement in the overall sports,” Shah Zaman said.

“Look state has given a huge grant to hockey but it has not been spent on players and the game,” he said. “In Sindh there is great talent but Sindh government is doing nothing for sports promotion,” he said.

“We will try our level best to find out the real causes of decline of Pakistan sports and how to reverse it,” Shah said. The 17-member committee took oath on Monday and in the next few days is expected to meet again in the federal capital to hold a debate on sports.

Former national footballer Shahid Shinwari is the senior vice president of the committee while Hafiz Mohammad Shabbir, Aizaz Ijaz, Humaira Mehmood and Ghulam Jillani are the vice-presidents. Jalal Haider Khan is the general secretary and Zain Khan the additional secretary.

The deputy secretaries are Shumaila Siddiqui, Deeba Sehar, Raziuddin Ahmed, Naveed Anjum Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shahana Bibi, and Sardar Syed Qurban Gharshin. Agha Azaz Hussain is the information secretary and Samra Athar the finance secretary.