FOR the past one month, the Senate Standing Committee on Sports has been busy probing into PCB’s affairs, espeically those concerning Pakistan’s defeat against India in the home series. Other issues on table include allegations of flouting rules in the signing of contracts, lack of transparency, appointment of foreign coaches.
As part of the investigation, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been asked to submit a copy of the contract of foreign coach Bob Woolmer and other foreign experts to the committee. The request in itself, is considered as almost a charge sheet against the PCB chief Shahryar Khan.
Mr Khan, according to press reports, explained every thing to committee members, when he was called for an official explanation by the SSCS boss, Zafar Iqbal Choudhry and fellow senators Enver Beg, Kamil Ali Agha, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Waseem Shahzad and Prof M. Saeed Siddiqui.
When asked to explain, the PCB chief assured the Senate committee a reply to every question. And as far the accounts of the Pakistan-India series are concerned, ‘it will be submitted as soon as the they are audited’. As yet, the auditing hasn’t finished.
Still, it would be interesting to see what the outcome of the SSCS probe is. It is good that the Committee is taking an active interest in the sports affairs of the country. But it is hoped that this probe would not be confined only to cricket, which is not our national game but certainly has become a common-man’s game.
One of the reasons for Pakistan’s poor showing in cricket has also been the undemocratic constitution of the PCB. The most glaring injustice to the game of cricket in the country is that it is the President of Pakistan who by virtue of being the patron-in-chief, enjoys the power to nominate the PCB chief. To this end, it was President Musharraf who appointed Shahryar to lead the PCB, after Tauqir Zia resigned on December last year.
One hopes that the SSCS will take up this vital issue for discussion at the floor of Senate and also direct its energies in convincing members of the National Assembly for making the cricket board a democratic one.
None of the game’s associations and departments carry any weight to get a democratic constitution for the PCB. The SSCS will indeed be doing a great service to cricket if it directs its energies towards achieving a democratic constitution for the PCB.
But cricket isn’t the only pressing matter in Pakistan’s sporting circles. There’s also hockey and boxing, thus Pakistan’s dismal performance in Athens. The poor results must surely invite an immediate probe into the causes of abject failure.
Hockey is our national game and we have been three times Olympic champions and four times World Cup winners. It was 20 years ago in 1984 at the Los Angeles Olympics that Pakistan won their third and last gold.
This year the Pakistan Hockey Federation, headed by General Mohammad Aziz Khan, was definitely hunting for that fourth Olympic gold. That is why it engaged a Dutch coach along with three other foreign experts on a one year contract, beginning from December 2003, in an attempt to build a winning team. Millions of rupees were spent in preparation of the squad and a month long tour of Europe was also part of the team’s build up for the grand battle. The outcome, however, was both shocking and frustrating.
Pakistan failed to qualify for the semifinals and we finished fifth, a place lower than what we achieved in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The nation wants answers. Despite spending millions of rupees, including the hard earned foreign exchange, on the team preparation, why was Pakistan’s performance so disappointing? Maybe what we need is not more money, rather a change!
Like cricket, the SSCS should start a probe into the hockey affairs, making it imperative on part of the PHF to submit the contracts of the foreigners, as is the case in cricket. There should be no discrimination about it.
There is also the need of holding a proper inquiry into the affairs of the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) to whom Islamabad extended unprecedented grant of Rs10 million. In order to prepare the boxers for the Athens Games, the federation chief Prof. Anwar Chaudhry, pleaded for funds so that our boxers could win medals in Athens. Funds were provided and six boxers did qualify for Athens. But just before the games, SAF Games gold medalist, Noman Karim was banned for one year when he tested positive for using drugs. Three other boxers were warned for smoking marijuana.
Two of the five boxers were beaten in the first round and the other three, suffered defeats in the second round in different weight categories.
It was complete failure on part of our boxers who were trained under the expert guidance of a Cuban coach. Bear in mind, our boxers have been under Cuban guidance for over a decade.
So far as the participation of two swimmers and two athletes is concerned, it was expected a no show as they were awarded the wild cards by the IOC. The wild cards are awarded to those countries whose athletes could not qualify for the Olympic Games. A shooter paid for the trip from his own pocket. He too was defeated.
Let the SSCS also ask the Pakistan Sports Board to submit the names of the officials who accompanied the squad as it is generally said that there wasn’t any need of sending so many officials with the squad.
The Pakistanis returned home empty handed after a lot of preparations for the Olympics. One certainly hopes that the Senate Standing Committee on Sports orders an inquiry into the affairs of the hockey and boxing federations, and that its inquiry isn’t restricted to just that of cricket.
