Despite what was the country’s worst ever performance in the recently-held South Asian Games, it doesn’t look like as if Pakistan’s sports authorities are even thinking about coming up with a solid plan to arrest the decline of sports. And it is more likely that no improvement would be seen in our sports system in future as well. The way other countries are progressing in the field it is feared that after a few years Pakistan would not be able to survive even at the South Asian level. Unless a proper system is put in place, Pakistan sports will continue to suffer.

The government, no doubt, is not serious about sports which is being run on an ad-hoc basis. And the government’s non-serious attitude about sports can be easily understood from its step of making it a provincial subject through the 18th amendment. And its parameters are still not clearly known.

Another precedent of the government’s non-seriousness about sports can be grasped from the fact that the prime minister Nawaz Sharif a few days ago honoured Pakistan’s hockey team  for winning gold medal in the South Asian Games in India while ignoring those athletes who won medals in other disciplines. The rest of medal-winners are not likely to get their prize money for their performance in the India’s event in the current financial year. In such a situation how could one expect a better future when our top leaders don’t take care of sports. Out of 12 gold Pakistan clinched in South Asian Games, three were won by those Pakistani athletes who live abroad. They don’t use Pakistan’s facilities, purchase their own tickets when they come to Pakistan for joining the national contingent, win medals but still they are not honoured, which is unfortunate.

The ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC), responsible for looking after sports, does not have any vision. And Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) is even worst. Both these bodies have a culture of clerks and are deprived of having such people in their ranks who could do something fantastic for sports development. Even IPC minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada seems helpless. The minister is a thorough gentleman but to be realistic he has so far failed to deliver. I ask the minister that it is the crunch time, please come forward and do something productive for sports promotion.

The PSB Director General Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera also has been ineffective as a leader. I interviewed him several times and each time he promised that he would do something major for sports development but so far he has done nothing concrete.

On the one hand the government does not have money for serious sports activities and Pakistan’s key international commitments in various sports disciplines but on the other hand it is going to spend Rs137 million on organising the inaugural Quaid-e-Azam Inter-Provincial Games.

Honestly speaking, such practices should be shunned. The event, which will be held in Islamabad from April 4-7, will serve no purpose and will only be a waste of money. Had the government spent this huge amount on serious sports sectors it could have at least benefited the country in the long run.

Till writing this piece the government had not yet even issued grant to Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) which is going to field its boxers in the Asian qualifying round for Olympics to be held in the Chinese city of Qian’an from March 23 to April 3.

Due to lack of the government’s patronage the boxers even did not get milk, fruits and other supplements during their training camp at the PSB Coaching Centre Karachi.

If they fail to impress in China in the coming days then who would be blamed for the outcome? No one, but the government. It is the responsibility of the state to provide infrastructure and funds to the relevant federations well in time so that it can implement its plan properly.

For the last one year no football activities have been held due to infighting between the two groups of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) but nobody cares. Is this not a total mess?

When federations are asked about their plans they say they have plans but cannot executive them because they don’t have money. Currently I say with authority that no federation has any solid plan which if executed could help them promote their relevant sports. Their top officials get foreign tours and they are satisfied. They don’t need anything more.

More recently I asked a senior official of a provincial association that why they don’t remove the president of their federation which is doing nothing, he replied, "He gives me foreign tour and I am happy with his presence as president."

And this is what our sports system is. We see the same faces heading various federations for the last several years without doing anything noteworthy for the sports uplift. I request these officials if they can’t deliver then they should go home and give chance to youth who may have fresh ideas which could help grow sports.

The question is who will correct the system? And I believe that the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) could do this if it starts working properly. The POA should not limit itself to only managing accreditation for Pakistan’s contingent’s participation in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) events. It should come out of the mesh and start putting pressure on the prime minister and to convince him to include sports in the federal government’s priority list. When sports will be put on the government’s priority list, it will indeed then get a constant attention from the state and would start growing. Pakistan will also grow economically if the government focuses on sports as in the modern era those nations achieve success who develop their sports. We have an example of Qatar which is a tiny nation but is involved in holding major international events. They know it will help their economy. I hope the POA president Lt Gen (retd) Syed Arif Hasan takes the much needed step to persuade the prime minister for the revolutionary change in the stance of the state towards sports.

Arif must have learnt a lot during his previous 12 long years as POA chief. Although during that period he did not do anything noteworthy but he should forget that and make a fresh start. If he also fails to deliver this time, the nation will not pardon him.