The Punjab Sports Board (PSB) is in consultation with the quarter concerned to plan its future programmes. Provincial Sports Minister Rana Mashhood Khan and PSB Director General Usman Anwar held meetings with some sports and non-sports people this week and discussed the name of Punjab Youth Festival and possibilities to change it.

They also discussed the policy to focus on Guinness Book of World Records, which has drawn lots of criticism in the past. In the last three editions of the youth festival, the sports ministry preferred to show quantity and not quality. Participants broke several records registered in the Guinness Book of World Records. Now, hardly a couple of them are still in the book as every day new records are established and make to the book.

A huge amount in foreign currency was paid to Guinness Book’s authorities to get these records registered for just a few days. Such activities are a sort of luxury for a poor country like Pakistan. Though many participants were against working with Guinness Book’s authorities, several others supported to continue with the brand name ‘Youth Festival’.

There are no two opinions that in sports, the real achievement in sport is winning medals in mega events like Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and World and Asian Cups. But in Pakistan, neither federal nor any provincial government has worked to produce Olympians in different games. Undoubtedly, it is a hard task to produce players of the international repute. Newspaper.Lahore:LatestNewsPakistan has earned lots of laurels in international events. In cricket, Pakistan has won World Cup 1992 and T20 World Cup in 2009 and Asia Cup cricket title many times. It has also won the Hockey World Cup four times and Olympics and Champions Trophy titles three times each, besides the Asian titles several times. The country also dominated squash from 1950 to 1997 through legends like Jehangir Khan, Jansher Khan, Roshan Khan, Gogi Alauddin and many others. During this period, Pakistan won more than 30 British Open titles, 14 World Open titles, and many PSA professional titles.

Ironically, with such great achievements in the past, the country is not willing to reclaim these glories. At least the policies of the government say so.

PSB’s primary task is to promote sports at the grass roots level. In the past, the PSB had a regular programme to organise Under-14 events for boys and Under-16 level for girls at inter-district or divisional level to spot the talent.

Had the PSB spent its budget on organising inter-district competitions, 50,000 to 60,000 youth would have participated in it.

The PSB has still lots of time as its district and divisional sports officers can raise teams in all disciplines. Former international players can be hired to pick the best talent from these contests for their further grooming. Hopefully, better sense will prevail and the PSB will come out with a productive programme to serve the national cause.

Lahore successfully hosted the Kenya cricket team last week with the hope the tour will help Pakistan attract other cricket countries without a fear of security. Though the country also remained in the grip of tensions due to the carnage of students of Army Public School in Peshawar, the tour of Kenya team -- a five One-day match series -- remained in process. The visitors completed the schedule of the matches and they are leaving Pakistan on Sunday (today). Hopefully, the law enforcing agencies will help the country host more teams in the near future. Another international event titled ITF Senior Tennis Championship is being held at Bagh-i-Jinnah grassy courts where some Indian players are also playing.

Last week, the Pakistan hockey team returned home from India via Wagah Border after claiming a noteworthy second position in the Champions Trophy. Pakistan played the final of a big event in hockey after 16 years and that too after beating arch-rival India in the semi-final on their soil. Though Pakistan lost the final to Germany, the nation was happy with the team. The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) had made arrangements at Wagah Border to welcome the team, but hours before the arrival, the sad incident of school-children’s killing in Peshawar occurred. Hence, the PHF suspended the celebration.

Promising player Arslan Qadir, who scored two goals against India in the semi-final, belongs to Lahore and he is the product of Tauqeer Dar Academy, which has already produce a good number of players for the Pakistan team.

Published in Dawn December 21th , 2014

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