KARACHI: The celebratory push-ups done by Pakistan cricket captain Misbah-ul-Haq and his team-mates during their fine victory over England in the first Test at Lord’s to acknowledge rigorous physical training under army personnel at the Kakul Military Academy, Abbottabad, has highlighted the inability of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to maintain its players’ top fitness levels on its own.

“Army’s hardwork with the players is paying off and has exposed the PCB’s lack of emphasis on physical fitness which is the basic requirement for sportsmen,” eminent veteran athlete and physical trainer Mohammad Talib told Dawn on Friday.

Talib, who has remained associated with victorious Pakistan hockey and boxing teams besides many other outfits in the past, said physical fitnes plays pivotal role in the success of a team or individual.

Be it hockey, cricket, football or squash one has to be hundred per cent fit having trained syntifically in order to excel in the field against rivals, he says.

“The national camps used to be staged in Abbottabad or Hasanabdal in the formative days of Pakistan that yielded fruitful results and the athletes have ruled in global competitions,” added the elderly coach.

Talib, who established Athletic Fitness School (AFS) at the Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium in 1977, said Karachi is an ideal place for long duration camps because of its weather advantage.

Under the slogan “be physically fit, nation needs it”, the AFS under the aegis of its founder has groomed scores of ordinary athletes into champions.

It is pertinent to mention that foreign hockey teams including Oman, Malaysia and even the Dutch coach Michel van den Heuvel have acknowledged the methodology of Talib.

“A person who knows the principles of athletics and has gone through the mill can only deliver the goods and there’s no shortcut to it,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2016