December 16, 2006	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 24, 1427

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KARACHI, Dec 15: The country’s sports scenario is in complete disarray as can be gauged from the fact that a 200-member squad hit a new low at the just concluded Doha Asian Games.

Pakistan drew blank in the gold medal count and had to be content with a silver and three bronzes in their worst ever performance which reflects a marked decline.

The kabaddi team did the country proud by capturing the only silver which also put Pakistan on the medals table midway through the games. Mansoor Zaman grabbed the bronze in squash while the other two were claimed by wushu, a relatively new sport and hockey teams.

Pakistan was among those who also ran in rest of the 16 disciplines in which they have fielded their athletes.

The hockey team faced humiliation of going down to minnows China 1-2 to make their exit from the pre-final. The seven-time Asian Games champions brushed aside Japan 4-2 in the playoff to earn a bronze and a direct ticket for Olympics.

The boxers, cueists, sailors, oarsmen and shooters who were eyeing medals met their waterloo on the Doha sojourn.

Pakistan returned with 13 medals — one gold, six silvers and six bronze — in the 2002 Asian Games held at Busan. Pugilists picked a haul of 1-4-1; followed by squash 0-1-1; snooker 0-0-2; sailing 0-1-0; kabaddi 0-0-1 and rowing 0-0-1.

Millions of rupees were pumped in by the PST/PSB on their preparations, hiring of foreign coaches, besides sending them abroad for training. However, the whole exercise went in vain.

Hockey: Poor showing in hockey is in keeping with the alarming decline in quality and content of the national game since 1994. The green-shirts who returned medal less from Busan first time in the games history though finished on the podium but the loss to China proved to be a severe blow and gone in the annals of the game. This also reminded South Korea’s emergence on their home soil in 1986 Asiad.

Boxing: No Chowdhry, no medal. We also know the pugilists won’t be able bring medals as they used to be the day Prof. Anwar Chowdhry lost the AIBA’s top seat. So there are no surprises in the wake of boxers’ lacklustre performance.

Snooker: The cueists, who have in all yielded five medals in the two games at Bangkok and Busan, were also quite disheartening. Even England-based professional Shaukat Ali who captured country’s only gold at the sport debut in 1998 was off colour and failed to repeat his feat.

Sailing: With lack of proper training without the services of a foreign coach, it was quite visible that the sailors will return empty-handed. Thus it was the first occasion when the sailors failed to win any medal since Pakistan made its debut at Bangkok in 1978. The sailors’ wins in small regattas that preceded Doha spectacle, proved to be a mere eye-wash.

One has failed to understand as to what barometer was set by the POA/PST chief, Lt. Gen Syed Arif Hasan, while choosing disciplines for the games.

Winning a gold medal at South Asian Games does not guarantee a medal in the Asian Games which are much tougher and contested on a broader scale. It seems the yardstick adopted by Arif was to oblige the people around him rather than going for fruitful results. He was bent upon to include even bodybuilding but it was dropped after all the three musclemen were tested positive on the eve of departure.

The Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF) set a good precedent when they volunteered to stay at home rather than joining the bandwagon.

According to the figures available here, the PST fetched Rs67.411 million from the sale of key chains and another Rs55.241 million from sale of Hero Cards when they were launched in the past. Now the lottery has been re-launched.

Results are true indicator and the performance at Doha shows money was not spent in the right direction. Furthermore, there is no system of accountability and the officials will now set their eyes on Beijing Olympics. Alas!