PSB to focus on individual sports for medals at big events

KARACHI: Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) plans to focus on such individual sports disciplines in which the country can pull off medals in major events in future.

“Yes we will focus on individual sports disciplines in which we have potential to win medals,” PSB Director General Col (retd) Asif Zaman told 'The News' on Wednesday.

“We have the capacity to do well in athletics, weightlifting, wrestling, squash, shooting, karate, judo, taekwondo and wushu. We will weigh different options and will look how we can help them,” he said.

Asif said that the PSB is working on future camps which will be held in connection with preparations for international events including Asian Games, South Asian Games and Olympics Qualifiers.

“We will look how we can manage these camps. We will see how we will be able to hold camps of such events in which the nation will feature in the Asian Games and can press for 2024 Paris Olympics seats. We are working on this and hopefully very soon we will be able to announce camps,” said Asif, also a former squash player.

“Besides wrestling and weightlifting we have tremendous talent in martial arts and in squash too we can grow but it needs a little more support and I hope we can improve as the time progresses,” he said.

Pakistan has tough tasks ahead in the shape of Asian Games and Olympics Qualifiers. The Asian Games are slated to be held in September-October 2023 in China. Olympic Qualifiers have already started in some disciplines. In some events it will be a two-year process and in some it will be limited to a few specific events.

Asif said the Board would try to manage camps in such a way that both Asian Games and Olympic Qualifiers could be covered smartly.

Asif said that like in the past various centres of the country are under consideration for training. He added that Pakistan Sports Complex, Islamabad, would be ready by December.

“In Islamabad, the facilities are being upgraded and renovated and this process will continue until the end of December. Hopefully by early next year we will have a well-prepared facility in Islamabad,” Asif said.

He said that he needed some skilled people to complete such projects.

Asif also said that the PSB is working hard to manage training and treatment for star javelin thrower Aeshad Nadeem in Germany.

“We are working so that Arshad could be sent immediately to Germany for both treatment and training,” ASif said. “He is our main hope in major events like Olympics and Asian Games and we want to treat him and train him well so that he could achieve the desired results in future events,” he said.

Arshad recently won two back-to-back gold medals for the country -- in the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. He is battling elbow and knee injuries.

Asif was happy that para-table tennis player Altaf-ur-Rehman got medal in the Islamic Games. “We had picked that boy and he did well by claiming bronze,” Asif said.

Pakistan is expected to hold the South Asian Games late next year. However, due to rescheduling of the Asian Games, Pakistan may review the SAG schedule.