After Pakistan hockey team failed to qualify for Rio Olympics for the first time in history it was expected that at least a few boxers would be able to make it to the world’s most prestigious competitions to be held in Brazil this August.

But the hopes were dashed when Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) failed to send the squad to China for the Asian qualifying round, which started in Qiana’n from March 25, due to financial problems.

The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) did not arrange funds and NOC for the tour. The Board claimed that the PBF had sent documents for NOC quite late.

A Board official told ‘The News on Sunday’ that as per procedure the documents for NOC must be sent by a federation to the Board six weeks before the international assignment.

The PSB official said how the board could release funds to the PBF when it had not yet got NOC from the government.

The PBF says that it had sent the documents for NOC to the Board on March 2.

What I feel is that the PSB did not take the matter seriously. And why would it when the PBF had not incorporated into its constitution the tenure-restriction clause of the national sports policy? The PSB did not consider the PBF its affiliated body. The PSB had arranged NOC and funds within hours for Pakistani boxers’ tour of Thailand for the Asian Championship last year when media put pressure on it. At that time too the Board was not bound to release funds but it did it for the sake of the boxers.

When the PSB did not release funds to the PBF for China tour the federation held its executive committee meeting at the residence of its president Doda Khan Bhutto and discussed the matter. It was agreed that the PBF could not fight with the PSB and it should immediately incorporate the tenure-restriction clause of the national sports policy in its constitution.

The PBF secretary Iqbal Hussain was advised to immediately send to the Board the amended copy of the constitution. He was also told to meet the top officials of the Board and restore with it working relations which are very important for running the boxing affairs smoothly.

I find the PBF the main culprit. It was because of the PBF that the boxers failed to proceed to China. The PBF kept the basic point secret from the media. Iqbal had been projecting himself as an innocent person and kept terming the PSB responsible for the boxing debacle. But it was never the case.

I ask Iqbal and Doda why they did not incorporate the tenure-restriction clause in the constitution well in advance when other federations had done that.

I ask why they played with the careers of boxers who were hoping to make a cut for Rio Games?

This was the last chance for a few boxers to become Olympians as their careers have almost ended.

A few days ago when I reminded the federal minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Riaz Hussain Pirzada that Pakistan was on the brink of missing the Olympic qualifiers, he said that he would handle it when he went to the office on Monday.

He said that it was extremely necessary for the boxers to feature in the qualifiers. But later the minister also failed to give any breakthrough.

As three boxers in each category will qualify for Olympics from the China’s qualifiers, Pakistan had a chance.

Although four Pakistani boxers lost finals against their Indian rivals in the South Asian Games in Guwahati recently, a couple of them could have given surprising results in China.

Pakistan pugilists last featured in Olympics in 2004 in Athens.

Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) also failed to help the PBF when it needed financial assistance at a crunch time.

The POA president Lt Gen (retd) Arif Hasan phoned Iqbal twice and promised that he would do something but nothing happened. The PSB was reluctant to help the PBF also because it did not see any qualifying chance for the country in China.

What happened is heart-wrenching, indeed. Some boxers were shown by television channels begging on the roads while leaving their training with the hope that the responsible people would rush to their help and ensure their participation in the qualifiers but this also failed.

The federations should not merely depend on state funding. They should have their own marketing wing and should bring in sponsors. If federations are able to keep their integrity in their dealing with the business partners I am sure they can move ahead smoothly. In June, Azerbaijan capital Baku will host the world qualifying round for Olympics but that would be a very tough tournament. Although the PBF plans that after restoring its working relations with the PSB it will field boxers in the Baku event, I see no chance for our boxers.

Now all eyes are set on the Japan-based judoka Shah Hussain who is expected to qualify for Rio Games. But his case is also being damaged as Shah missed a few important qualifying rounds. If he fails to win a medal in the Asian Championship in Uzbekistan next month, his qualifying chances will diminish.

If Shah too fails to qualify it will be for the first time in history that Pakistan will feature in the Olympics through wild card entries.

In order to take a relatively large contingent to Rio the POA has already requested the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for extra wild cards to Pakistan. The POA officials should be ashamed of what they did in the pre-Olympic seminar in Brazil. They should not have begged for wild cards. They should have told the IOC that as no athlete of Pakistan could qualify directly so Pakistan would not be featuring in the Rio Olympics and would rather focus on the next Olympics. It’s time for our top sports officials to think seriously for sports uplift, not for their own tours.