INFRA-structure plays a vital role in sports. It provides an opportunity to athletes to better their stamina and skills to a higher level that enable them to compete in the international arena. However, lately, sports has witnessed a downward trend neither because of lack of facilities nor dearth of talent, but it is attributed to alarming rise in sports gear and lack of motivation among the youths.

Despite meagre resources, Karachi’s contribution to sports is laudable. Be it cricket, hockey, snooker, table tennis to name a few, the city has never lagged behind and played its role in grooming the players into champions since Independence.

It has produced a galaxy of sports greats, both men and women, in the last five decades. They included names from all sects and religions — Muslims, Christians, Parsis and Hindus have reached the zenith of acclaim.

Though inadequate at partition, the sporting facilities in the city grew with the passage of time. A study shows that the city has five synthetic pitches for hockey, a tartan track for athletics, three international standard squash courts, a cricket Test and ODI centre, tennis courts for hosting the ITF Satellite, an international standard swimming pool and a shooting range at PN Karsaz, in addition to five multi-purpose indoor complexes — Peoples Stadium, KPT Sports Complex, NSTCC, Islamia Club and Sindh Sports Board Complex. This is, of course, in addition to a host of other stadia and venues for other disciplines.

Karachiites have witnessed big sporting events like Champions Trophy, World Open squash, Tests matches and ODIs, World and Asian snooker, international boxing, ITF tennis, etc., but have yet to stage a mega event like SAF Games or Asian Games. And that is where the lack of an Olympic sized stadium is badly felt.

The sprawling metropolis, which also serves as the backbone of the country, however, badly needs one, a multi-purpose indoor gymnasium of international standard and a residential village in the outskirts, probably on the side of either of the two highways, so that it can at least host a SAF Games in future.

Pakistan, it may be mentioned, was honoured twice to host the SAF Games and both were successfully organized at Islamabad. The choice of the capital was obvious keeping in view the facilities at the Chinese built sports complex.

Neighbouring India, too, has staged SAF Games twice but in different cities at Calcutta in 1987 and at Chennai in 1995. So, the next time when the games’ return to Pakistan, will Islamabad yet again host the SAF Games?

Though it seems a herculean task, ways and means should be explored forthwith by the Sindh government on a long term basis. Either the proposed project should be made part of the President’s Karachi package, or the Sindh government should introduce a levy system to fetch money. The idea of introducing a lottery for a certain period can also be examined. A high powered committee should be formed by the chief executive of the province to work out the modalities with regard to the project. It may be mentioned that Hero card, lottery scheme, introduced by the government on the eve of the 2004 SAF Games, fetched a substantial amount for the organizing of the eight-nation spectacle where Afghanistan made its debut.

If such a scheme can be materialized then hosting of the Games will go a long way in enhancing the image of the city of the Quaid and at the same time it will help the government earn foreign exchange and set a healthy trend.