Recent rains in the city have turned Nishtar Sports Complex into a ‘pool’, thanks to ineffective drainage system. Puddles of rainwater and sewage make it difficult for people to enter the complex which houses organisations such as the Pakistan Cricket Board, the Pakistan Hockey Federation, the Sports Board Punjab, the Pakistan Football Federation and the Lahore City Cricket Association.

Those working in these organisations also face a great deal of difficulty in movement as do visitors to other offices and restaurants around Qadhafi Stadium. Officials have failed to clear the knee-deep water, which can be a source of dengue breeding, for the last four to five days.

Poor drainage system is an old problem of the complex and though efforts were made in the past to tackle it, a lack of effective planning and little interest of the higher-ups prevented materialization of any plan.

Every year in monsoon the problem surfaces and the media highlights it but no decision has been taken to improve the drainage system. In the recent past, the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) started work on digging wells at three places to make way for rainwater but the project was left incomplete.

The PCB, which is considered financially most resourceful of the institutions inside the complex, has also failed to take any initiative and the Qadhafi Stadium ground also gets affected by prolonged rain spells.

The big photographs of the stadium ground submerged with rainwater, which adorn the rooms of the PCB officers, best sum up the priorities of the powers that be.

Aamir Khan, the British boxer of Pakistan’s origin, visited Lahore this past week. During a visit to the shrine of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh, he spoke to reporters and once again sought the Punjab government’s help in establishing a boxing academy in Lahore.

He claimed that the Punjab government had promised to give him land for an academy which would help promote talent in the sport.

He said the government had resumed construction work on an indoor gymnasium in Nishtar Sports Complex and promised to give him an academy but the work was stopped.

The Pakistan Rugby Union conducted a successful meeting of the Asian Rugby Union in Murree this past week. A good number of foreign delegates first reached Lahore and then went to Murree. Among the participants were President of the Asian body, Koji Tokumasu (Japan), Secretary Qais Aldhalai (UAE) and Agha Hussain of India as vice president. The Asian body hailed the performance of its Pakistan chapter.

The training camp of the Pakistan hockey team preparing itself for an important assignment of Asian Champions Trophy is in full swing at the Johar Hockey Stadium under the supervision of head coach Olympian Khwaja Junaid. The event will be held in Malaysia in October and Pakistan will compete as defending champions. Pakistan won the last two editions of the trophy.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2016