May 24, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 07, 1428

KARACHI, May 23: Millions of rupees are being spent annually in the name of sports but nobody has ever tried to find out why Pakistan is faced with a rapid decline in all Olympic disciplines at the international level.

Deterioration in sports began on the very day that commercial organisations disbanded their teams which produced scores of outstanding sportsmen/sportswomen. No only did this move render several talented sportspersons jobless, it also closed the doors on the many prodigies that were in the making.

Pakistan’s rise in international sports arena had not come in a short span of time but was the result of concerted efforts on the part of athletes and officials. They not only brought in a number of laurels for Pakistan, sports also went a long way in providing great financial relief to the players and their families.

The Grand Slam in hockey, the monopoly in squash, reaching the zenith in Cricket World Cup, the shining performance of athletes in Asian Games until 1990 are some of the milestones of Pakistan’s golden era in sports.

In an unparalleled feat, Pakistan simultaneously held four world titles – hockey, cricket, squash and snooker – under its belt in 1994. But since then, the graph of country’s sports has only fallen while no remedial measures have been taken to arrest this decline which has continued for over a decade now.

One wonders what charm is left for the promising players to take up sports seriously, mostly at the expense of their education? To take up a sport is, indeed, a full time job, particularly if one wants to make a name for himself. But when the youngsters look around for inspiration, all they see is that their seniors are struggling to make the two ends meet.

PIA colts, a brain-child of former director sports of the airlines, Brig (r) M. H. Atif, yielded fruitful results at one time. Most of its players stepped into Pakistan team that went on to win country’s last Olympic title at Los Angeles in 1984.

There used to be fierce competition among departmental teams at the domestic level round the year. Be it cricket or hockey, squash or football, athletics or table tennis, every sport had a star.

But suddenly a pall of gloom befell the sports scene in Pakistan. Major organisations including United Bank Limited (UBL), Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB), Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC), Pakistan Automobile Corporation (PACO), Allied Bank Limited (ABL), National Development Finance Corporation (NDFC), Pakistan Public Works Department (PWD) decided to close their respective sports departments.

The Habib Bank Limited (HBL), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Customs, Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) and Karachi Port Trust (KPT) stopped any more recruitment and chose to continue with the old guard. Only Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) displayed a blend of experience and youth in its teams while their sports department thrived.

Presently, it’s a two horse race between Army and Wapda who have a pool of players in their rank and file and end up dominating almost every other event.

Three departments – UBL, NBP and Customs – contributed immensely towards the promotion of sports by constructing sports complexes in the metropolis. But Habib Bank and Muslim Commercial Bank, which were also allotted pieces of land for similar purposes, chose to abandon it.

The sports fraternity heaved a sigh of relief when the then Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali announced to lift a ban on athletes’ employment on Feb 6, 2003.

Unfortunately, the words of then Premier fell on deaf ears of bureaucracy and no headway was made.

There were a lot of expectations from much talked about Pakistan Sports Trust (PST), headed by Lt. Gen (r) Syed Arif Hassan, but his three-year tenure went pretty much in vain.

‘Who will bell the cat and when’ is the big question now. A policy in this regard is the need of the time and if framed right away, could have a long lasting impact on sports promotion in Pakistan.