Who can understand the game of squash better than the legendary Jahangir Khan in this country, but such is the apathy that his Sindh Squash Association (SSA) is still to be recognised by the Sindh Olympic Association (SOA).

The split within SSA occurred last year when a faction decided to revolt and held its elections for a four-year term on May 24 last year in connivance with the SOA who immediately recognised it. Haji Muzaffar Ali Shujra was elected as president and Mohammad Amir Khan as secretary.

On the other hand, the legitimate body held its elections on May 31 last year, having the blessing of the squash maestro. As per practice, it got the nod of the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF). Tahir Ahmed succeeded Tahir Khanzada as president while Rashid Ahmed was elected secretary. Jahangir Khan was unanimously elected as chairman.

When contacted, Amir alleged that Khanzada has misappropriated funds of approximately Rs 7,00,000 by transferring them into his personal account during his second tenure. The latter, however, denied the allegations.

Khanzada convened a meeting and slapped a five-year ban on Amir while the latter in a separate meeting removed the former from the president’s post.

Taking note of the parallel bodies, the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) formed a committee headed by the Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF) president S. M. Sibtain to resolve the issue but in vain as he refused on the pretext that the PTTF is facing the same situation in Punjab.

Perturbed with the scenario, the POA constituted another body headed by the SOA president retired Brig Rashid Ali Malik to resolve the matter. He had a meeting with Jahangir as well as the other faction recently but no result has come to fore yet.

The POA is facing this dilemma in couple of games over the years across the country which is a great cause of concern. People connected with sports alleged that POA should curse itself for failing to set its house in order due to litigations.

Experts are of the opinion that POA needs to revamp its constitution. It’s the national federations that constitute the National Olympic Committee (NOC) in every member country of the IOC and they need a fair treatment.

Instead of drawing a line to restrict affiliation to Olympic sport, the POA, according to experts, has made a mockery by bringing non-Olympic sports under its umbrella.

It is pertinent to mention that POA general council consists of 127-member and yet the country’s sports have nose-dived. The foreign tours of Lahore-based POA officials and few others continue unabated, irrespective of the shambolic state of sports in the country.

The vocal SOA president became the first person in the house to admit the deterioration of sports in the country and suggested measures to arrest the decline in the last general council meeting held at Lahore on July 27.

Published in Dawn September 13th, 2016