10 January 2005	Monday	28 Ziqa'ad 1425

LAHORE, Jan 9: The main reason for the declining standard of sports, in the country, especially in cricket, hockey and squash, is that the system of finding of new talent is obsolete and inadequate.

This was stated by Federal Sports Minister, Ajmal Khan, while speaking to journalists on Sunday. The minister said that Pakistan had failed to regain glories in the three sports and main reason was the failure of the system to spot new talent.

"The government is planning to expand the talent hunt scheme to tehsil and district levels and soon a comprehensive programme will come out", he said. The minister, however, said that the government was not responsible for the debacle, as it had provided all possible facilities to players of cricket, hockey and squash.

"We spent a lot of money to prepare a hockey team and provided all facilities to the players, but they failed to bring laurerls. "Similarly, most of our cricketers reported unfit during the high-profile series in Australia," he said. He said that the PCB was also under the purview of the sports ministry.

In reply to a question about the considerable delay by the Senate sports committee in preparing its report on the performance of the Pakistan team in home series against India, Mr Ajmal pointed out that the committee was working on preparing its findings and it had no authority to "hang anyone" but only to keep a check in the decline of sports.