‘Won’t depend on govt for sports promotion’

KARACHI: Prominent businessman Aqeel Karim Dhedhi has said that the recently established Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) committee would do its best to lift the standard of Pakistani sports with the help of private sector.

Dhedhi was last month nominated for the membership of PSB executive committee whose aim is to improve the overall condition of Pakistani sports.

The chairman of AKD Group said while talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday that despite being a businessmen he knows the importance of sports for the development of a society.

He said that he was an athlete in his student life and student of Pakistan’s best athletics coach Muhammad Talib. He participated in various athletic competitions with great Pakistani athletes.

Dhedhi said that he was the main organiser of Pakistan’s geat hockey hero Olympian Samiullah’s benefit match in 1983 in Karachi as Samiullah is his close friend.

He said that there are two members of PSB executive board who represent the private sector: he and one form Lahore.

The chairman of AKD group made it clear that his efforts for the development and improvement in sports would not be dependent only on government’s grants.

“My inclusion in the PSB executive board means the participation of private sector. I will bring corporate sector, multinational companies and the government together to uplift the sports at the grassroots,” Dhedhi said.

He said inter-school competitions were the foundation of a sports system and that he had started work to organise sports events in those disciplines which are popular among the school-going youngsters.

“We cannot start our sports activities immediately due to the COVID-19. When the situation is under control and sports complexes, grounds, and gymnasiums are open, we will start sporting activities,” he added.

He said that minister for IPC Dr Fahmida Mirza is very committed and enthusiastic to improve the overall sports scenario of the country. “She has asked us to bring significant changes to sports at grassroots so that maximum opportunities of competing in various disciplines are available to our young generation when the pandemic is over,” Dhedhi said.

“We will focus initially on inter-school competitions in various disciplines, including athletics, table tennis, football, swimming, hockey, judo, and karate,” he said.

Dhedhi expressed concern over the delay in the completion of the multipurpose sports gymnasium at PSB’s National Coaching Centre. He said that it would be his first priority to get that project completed as soon as possible.

He said that he would soon visit the Centre to examine the condition of its tartan track.