May 14, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 11, 1424

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KARACHI, May 13: Pakistan boxing chief Prof Anwar Chowdhry on Tuesday said the national sports policy, at the moment, is not fully practical for any sports federation including Pakistan Amateur Boxing Federation (PABF).

Although Chowdhry was partially for the newly-formulated sports policy, he did not agree it was completely practical, especially the part which demands elections in tehsils.

“I first accepted when the proposal of new sports policy came to me. But later I came know there are some points which we can’t follow. And the main issue is of tehsils.

“There are some 4000 tehsils in the country. As boxing is a contact game, we need to have coaches in each tehsil. I asked the authorities for Rs40million for that purpose and Rs30 to 40 million more for other expenses. Only then we can fully comply with the policy,” he told a press conference.

“It is a good idea only if implemented, which at the moment, seems impossible.”

Chowdhry suggested instead of spreading the base to tehsil level, districts should be lowest level to operate or it would be impossible to achieve what the authorities were trying.

“It will be a great achievement if we get the results in five to 10 years if elections are held from district level. We will be lucky if we accomplish the task in 50 years if tehsils are involved,” he remarked.

Chowdhry said he would step down as the president, but would remain in power after being installed as the patron-in-chief of the PABF.

“I will quit as the president of the PABF. But I will have all the powers to control and run the affairs,” Chowdhry said.

According to new sports policy, top officials of the sports federations, who have completed their four-year terms twice, are barred to contest for the third time.

Chowdhry, associated with the PABF as top official for more than 40 years, did not give the exact date of the PABF elections but said the change in hierarchy was expected before September.

The official replied in negative when asked if change in his posts would create confusion as he would be the sole authority having sweeping powers despite quitting as president.

There had been criticism from some quarters contending PABF had not been included in the list of 14 federations whose annual grants have been suspended by the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).

PSB on May 5 froze the grants of 14 federations excluding PABF for not implementing the sports policy.

“Our grants have not been stopped as we are following the sports policy. Elections from lower level to the associations have been completed and now we will hold PABF elections before September,” he said.

With an idea to tap the talent at grassroots level, it had been decide to emphasize only on cadet boxing and not the seniors, the official said.

“It is easier to have talented boxers at much lesser expense by focussing on cadet boxing. We have planned to have national cadet championship twice a year as the future of boxing is in cadet boxing,” he said.

Since the sport had become safer after the introduction of headgear and heavier gloves, he said he was keen to introduce the game to the youngsters above 14 years of age and below 17.

“The only hurdle in our way is the weight categories approved by the international body. It’s difficult to find a boy of 15 or 16 in 80kg category. But we have no choice and will continue our efforts.”

Chowdhry said India earmarks a budget of Rs5.5 billion of which Rs3.5million was for boxing, while PSB had merely Rs70 to 80 million for sports.