PSB willing to support federations to hire foreign coaches

KARACHI: During the last few years very few national federations hired foreign coaches because of lack of proper support from the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB). However, the Board intends to do something productive in the new financial year to enable efficient federations to hire foreign coaches.

“Yes, definitely we will try to support federations,” Azam Dar, a senior PSB official, told ‘The News’ in a detailed chat.

When asked whether the PSB intends to enhance the package for hiring foreign coaches ahead of South Asian Games which Pakistan is to host, Dar said: “It all depends on the budget.”

Lack of state support has created problems for certain federations which want to deliver through the assistance of foreign coaches. The PSB-backed Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) got good results through the services of Iranian coach Hamid Movahedi who served the nation for two years.

However, after the PSB withdrew its support it was not possible for the PVF to keep Movahedi and it had to hire a Korean coach for a few months.

“Yes, we could not back the PVF further due to budget issue,” Dar admitted.

Meanwhile, the PSB is under immense criticism for ignoring some federations while releasing grants-in-aid in the outgoing fiscal year.

Dar said that every effort was made to release grants-in-aid to 16 federations in the recently concluded fiscal year.

“We are also humans. We tried our best to release grants to those federations whose performance was good,” Dar said.

When asked why Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) was ignored, Dar said: “How much money has the PBF spent from its own kitty in the entire last financial year?

“We asked the PBF to furnish details of its activities in the outgoing fiscal year and it did not even bother to reply,” Dar said.

“Some federations don’t process their case, so there are issues,” he was quick to add.

But PBF secretary Nasir Tung told ‘The News’ they had not received any letter from the PSB. “Nor was anything communicated orally to us,” he added. “We have already sent activity details of 2019-2020 to the PSB,” he said.

Dar also said the PSB had supported Pakistan Handball Federation (PHF). “Our handball team won gold in the 13th South Asian Games but tell me who bore their expenses. It was the PSB which met all the expenses of the South Asian Games,” Dar said.

“And we then handed cash awards to all the medal winners. The details which we released on Tuesday did not include the expenses of a few days camps after National Games,” Dar said.

“We had previously given the volleyball federation Rs3 million because it featured in the Asian Championships and had also done well. The PVF deserved support. We have given Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) Rs1 million but we have also supported most of their foreign expenses and have also given cash prizes to national grapplers,” Dar said.

“The federations are also expected to generate their own funds and it’s very important if anyone wants to develop its discipline. The state will add to their efforts,” Dar said.

“On May 19, 2019, IPC Minister Dr Fehmida Mirza had said in a meeting that sports had devolved. Everything had been made clear. We cannot release a single penny unless it is approved,” Dar said.

“After we released grants to federations, those which did not get funds are unhappy and those which did are also unhappy and say that they deserved more money,” Dar signed off.