The province does not have facilities for water sports and it has also not laid a tartan track which experts say may take six more months in installation at the Ayub Stadium, Quetta. But the POA, at the same time, told Balochistan at its general body meeting in Lahore on March 31 that whenever it was ready it could organise the 34th National Games next year. It means that there is high chance of holding National Games twice within one year.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has shown every time great resolve in organising national events in the most befitting way. And this time, too, under the leadership of KP Olympic Association’s President and former provincial sports minister Syed Aqil Shah the province is bracing for conducting National Games at the end of summer. Aqil, a former senator of the Awami National Party (ANP), has already discussed the matter with the KP government. When it appeared that Balochistan was not going to meet the April 2019 deadline for organising the Games, Aqil offered that KP could do it in October.

In 2010, Aqil did a great job to organise National Games despite highly risky conditions when there were bomb blasts everywhere. KP has the advantage of hosting such events quite easily because it has sufficient infrastructure. And again the credit goes to Aqil who upgraded the available infrastructure when he was the sports minister a few years ago under the ANP regime. With the addition of the Hayatabad Sports Complex and complexes at Charsadda and Mardan, KP has emerged as the second best place after Islamabad in terms of sports infrastructure. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) added numerous grounds in various tehsils in its previous term. Besides this, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) can also offer its infrastructure for the National Games and I hope KP would be able to hold a good event at a time when peace has been restored in the province.

Effort should be made to hold National Games in the last week of September so that national athletes could get a couple of months to train for the South Asian Games which are scheduled to be held in Nepal from December 1-10.

But Balochistan should not lose heart as it has got a good chance and time to further add to its infrastructure and prepare solidly for hosting the 34th National Games. Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan seems interested in sports. He not only witnessed the PSL final at the National Stadium Karachi but also extended resounding welcome to Quetta Gladiators at Quetta. Kamal should know that after devolution, provinces have to play the leading role in sports development. He should enhance not only infrastructure but also assist those players of the province who can go a long way in serving the nation in international circuit in various disciplines.

The merger of Fata Olympic Association in KP Olympic Association has been formally approved at the POA general body meeting following the 25th amendment to the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Sources told me that various associations of the FATA Olympic Association will be merged with the respective associations of the KP Olympic Association. This will make KP Olympic Association much stronger.

And now it is highly likely that in the coming National Games FATA and KP would field single teams in each discipline under a single flag.

Meanwhile, the state has also reached very close to restructuring Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) as a new Pakistan Sports Education Development and Infrastructure Board (PSEDIB) is being established. Although the new Board has a load of weak points and will be discussed some time later, it is important that it will also now be responsible for running the sports sciences and physical education programmes leading to doctorate level with the coordination of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

As usual, Director General will be the chief executive of the board and will be recommended by the Board of Governors for appointment. The BoG will be headed by the federal minister for IPC as its president and secretary IPC will be vice-president. It will also have the POA president, chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC), Secretary National Paralympic Committee and secretaries of the four provinces, Gilgit Baltistan and AJK as its members. No national federation has been given place in the BoG unlike in the previous set-up of the Board.

Let’s see how the new set-up will deliver. But for bringing reforms, the state has completely stopped the sports activities. Pakistan’s leading players, particularly those who have 2020 Tokyo Olympics prospects, are not happy with the PTI government. They say PTI is hurting their chances of qualifying for Olympics in the name of reforms.

"Whatever reforms and system the federal government bring will never compensate for the huge loss to those aspirants who were aiming to qualify for 2020 Olympics. We are not being supported and we are losing the chance of our life. We were thinking that Imran Khan, being a sportsman, will look after sports well but it seems that he does not care," a highly competent player told ‘The News on Sunday’.

Bringing Dr Fehmida Mirza as the IPC minister is the biggest mistake by the PTI government. She will file a report at the end of this financial year that the ministry saved huge money by limiting the athletes to their homes. Since the 18th Asian Games, national athletes have been sitting idle.

Even this month for various Asian Championships, Pakistan is sending only one player each as token participation because national federations are unable to finance full-fledged squads without the state’s input. Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) wants to send five athletes to the continental event in Doha later this month but because of no money it is unable to hold a camp for them. It’s really an embarrassing situation.

The Prime Minister a few days ago rejected Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) task force plan regarding merger of regions and departments in the domestic cricket and rather ordered the Board to go for a roadmap carrying six regional teams in the first-class cricket. This has put jobs of cricketers at high risk. Habib Bank Limited (HBL), the reigning first-class cricket and one-day event champions, will no longer be there as the authorities have decided to "demobilise" its cricket team. And I have learnt that other departments are expected to follow suit.

"We have also been told by our chairman to disband the cricket team," the sports head of a department told TNS.

Limiting first-class cricket to only six regional teams will not only make cricketers jobless but will also discourage the youth and they will go to other fields instead of trying their luck in cricket. The decision will also adversely affect Pakistan’s foreign remittances as a large number of first-class cricketers used to play club cricket in England and other countries.

In Australia, which has a small population, playing six state teams in first-class cricket may be productive but in Pakistan, having 220 million people, reducing first-class cricket to six teams is expected to be dangerous for cricket promotion.