Millions of rupees are spent on organizing the National Games every two years. Is it really worth it?
HOLDING of the National Games once every two years by the four provincial Olympic associations; Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan, on the basis of rotation has become a heavy financial burden on the hosts. This became evident following the 29th National Games, held in Quetta, Balochistan.
This six day long national sporting extravaganza invited about 5000 athletes from all across the country to the provincial capital. Medals in 25 disciplines were at stake, of which four were held outside Balochistan for lack of facilities. These four included swimming and rowing in Islamabad and shooting, as well as sailing in Karachi.
Athletic events were contested on Ayub Stadium’s grassy tracks. This was of course only because the laying of the tartan track had not been completed. These are the second consecutive National Games where the athletic events were held on a grassy track. Earlier, in the 2001 Lahore National Games, the green tracks of the Railways Stadium served the athletics events.
However, a point of note here. None of the four provincial Olympic associations enjoy the kind of financial stability that would enable them to independently organize a National Games. All of the four associations are dependent on grants from the provincial government, corporate sponsorship and grants from the Pakistan Sports Board, given for the purpose through Pakistan Olympic Association. And this is exactly the route that the Rs40 million took, on their way to financing the 29th National Games.
Likewise, the competing provincial associations are dependent on their respective provincial governments for financing their activities during the Games. And this, without contributing to the promotion and development in their respective jurisdications.
There is a need on part of the POA to shift the organizational responsibilities of the National Games to its other affiliated units, such as Pakistan Army, Navy, Air Force, Wapda and Pakistan Railways. These affiliated units can easily organize and manage the National Games as they have the resources and manpower to carry out the responsibility without any financial burden on the provincial governments.
On their part, the provincial governments don’t allocate much funds in their annual budgets for creating a sports culture and releasing substantial grant to their Olympic associations.
Let the POA allocate the next National Games to the Army, followed by Wapda and so on. In case any affiliated provincial association is keen on staging the National Games, the POA should allot it to them, but it should not be made mandatory for the Olympic associations. The POA should also take care of all the constitutional hitches in this regard. At the same time if the POA is not prepared to allocate the National Games to any other affiliated units except the provincial associations, then it must give a sustainable grant from the fund it receives from the International Olympic Committee (IOC ) to hold the games. The number of sporting events too should be curtailed.
No more than 15 events should be held in a Games and a rotation formula should be evolved for inclusion of one event and dropping another. This will also put less pressure on the provincial associations that are not fully committed to promoting a particular game in the country. Mere affiliation of a federation with the POA does not mean the inclusion of the game. There are certain disciplines whose inclusion are a must and the POA knows it.
The POA has to change its policy under the prevailing objective conditions.
Millions of rupees are spent on organizing the National Games every two years. Is it really worth it?
