22 August 2004	Sunday	05 Rajab 1425

LAHORE, Aug 21: Syed Sibtain Raza, father of Rubab Raza, Pakistan's first female swimmer to represent the nation at the Athens Olympics has criticised the Pakistan Swimming Federation (PSF) for not extending enough cooperation to his daughter who he claimed could have produced better results.

Thirteen-year old Rubab also became the youngest sportswoman to represent Pakistan in any Olympics event when she contested in the 50m freestyle heat. Unfortunately, she finished fifth clocking 30.10 seconds and could not qualify for the final.

"The federation's cold response towards Rubab is responsible for this poor performance," her father told journalists on Saturday.

"Yes, I am happy my daughter achieved a feat, but had the federation provided her coaches and other training facilities, she could have qualified for the final," Mr Raza added.

He explained that he hired a coach from his own pocket while the federation did not arrange even a pool for her training.

He pointed out that the federation held a training camp at Islamabad despite the fact Rubab could be better trained at Lahore where she lives.

"I had been requesting the federation to come and see Rubab training and provide her the best coach available,but not a single official showed any interest nor paid even a single visit," he said.

Mr Raza minced no words when he said the PSF did not pay even a single penny for Rubab's training.

He said besides the coach's fees, he also paid from his own pocket all expenditures of swimming pool for training.

He claimed that the officials of the federation had their own goals instead of promoting the deserving players.

Mr Raza said he met PSF secretary Kamran Butt before holding of the last Age Group Championship to get the national record so that Rubab could be trained in a better way, but after waiting for hours, he could not get it.

He said the Pakistan Sports Board and the Punjab Sports Board had supported Rubab to some extent but the PSF did nothing.