January 28, 2007	Sunday	Muharram 08, 1428

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KARACHI, Jan 27: Hosts Sindh is lagging far behind as far as preparation of athletes is concerned and has set no targets to better its standing on overall medals table of the 30th National Games.

The biennial spectacle was awarded to Sindh at the conclusion of last edition held at Quetta in Sept — Oct 2004. Sindh was placed sixth among 11 participating units with a haul of 31 medals – 4-9-18.

The provincial sports associations who mostly depend on government grants to run their affairs are waiting for the same to start their training camps as the games are drawing near.

Gone are the days when athletes used to train on their own with a mission of winning honours irrespective of getting daily allowance or not. However, the situation has changed due to inflation.

But submission of proposed budget of over Rs6.4 million by provincial sports bodies to Sindh government for holding month long camps tantamount to fooling the establishment.

Setting up training camps at the eleventh hour is not happening first time but it has been a tradition in Sindh. This affects the performance of an athlete when it comes to winning the medals by rubbing shoulders with superiors.

According to unconfirmed reports team officials eats up dailies of fake and even in some cases of genuine players and the growing tendency across the country has been going unchecked since long.

It’s time that Sindh should wake up and all the forces connected with promotion of sports sets direction and work in cohesion.

Meanwhile, the executive committee of SOA which met on Saturday decided to disburse token grant of Rs0.9 million at the rate of Rs30,000 to 30 associations affiliated with it by next week.

The meeting co-opted four more members in the already formed 16-member executive committee. They include Barrister Shahida Jamil, Syed Shakawat Ali, Syed Mahfoozul Haq and Khwaja Naveed.

Besides approving the National Games logo of Indus Dolphin with torch and five Olympic rings the meeting authorised SOA president Fakir Ayazuddin and secretary Ahmed Ali to finalise dates with concerned authorities.