ABOUT 200 countries recently participated in the Olympics held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

It is unfortunate that Pakistan could not produce a single athlete who could participate on merit in this world event. Only seven wild card entries were given to Pakistan by the Olympic Committee, not on merit but as a goodwill gesture.

Pakistan accepted the offer and sent seven athletes who participated in sprint, judoka, shooting and swimming.

Woefully, none of the participants could go beyond the preliminary round. On what basis their selection was made remains unclear, the same goes for the 17 officials who accompanied the squad of seven to Brazil.

There is a need to pay greater attention to sports, particularly to hockey for which once we were known the world over.

S.M. Anwar

Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2016