WATCHING Anum Bandey compete at the Olympics made me sad.

She raced against three other swimmers in heat 1 of the Women’s 400-meter individual medley. The race involves swimming eight lengths of the pool. When the girl who finished third had completed the race, Anum had still not completed her 7th length.

And, it was really sad to see Anum being the lone swimmer not just for a few seconds, but for almost 40 seconds. I tried to explain away her comparatively dismal performance by telling myself that she is only 15 years old.

But, later in the evening, I saw a 16-year-old from China take the Olympic Gold for this race, in the process demolishing the world record. Anum set a new national record by beating her own time.

National records notwithstanding and no matter how much of a positive spin the news report tries to put on it, I do not see the Anums of Pakistan making any significant impact in international sporting arenas anytime in the near future.

The fault lies with a system that does not provide opportunities, resources or even an environment for encouraging development of world-class athletes.

RAFIQ R. ALI Dubai

7-0 in hockey

AS London Olympics reached its finale, we remember with tears our men’s hockey team’s performance, suffering a humiliating 7-0 defeat against Australia.

The final whistle by the umpire came as a relief for our boys or else the Australians would have run havoc on the field.

Rabia Ashiq finished last in the 800m race causing much embarrassment to our country for the next planned event was delayed considerably as the Olympic management officials waited helplessly for her to cross the line. Do we really have to participate in the event in future and become a laughing stock?

Dr IRFAN ZAFAR Islamabad