ISLAMABAD, May 9: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Friday slammed the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), the national Olympic association and the federations saying they were not working well.

“We have to have a dynamic Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), PSB and the federations and we must produce good sportsmen,” he said after inaugurating the refurbished squash courts at the Islamabad Club.

President’s comments came just days after the PSB announced it was stopping grants to as many as 15 national federations for not abiding by the new sports policy.

“Encouraging sports is our government’s aim; we made a sports policy that is futuristic and now implementing it is a problem, although its implementation is important.”

But Musharraf minced no words in declaring that the PSB, the POA and the federations would have to perform better “because there’s room for a lot of improvement in their working and I’ll ensure that this is done.”

Musharraf impressed the audience on how well informed he was about Pakistan’s sporting scene when he spoke about athletics and said its standards had gone down over the years.

“We used to win medals regularly in athletics but now there are no medals, we are the same people. This means that the federation is not working well and so are the other sports bodies and we must put them in order.”

He pointed out that the federations ought to be spending money on sportsmen which was important instead of wasting it on other areas.

Musharraf also made it clear that he was against giving money to sinking organisations. “Money should be given to them when they put their house in order and start giving results.”

The presidential swipe comes following months of a bitter row between the PSB and the POA over the new sports policy.

The Olympic association particularly objects to one of its clauses that puts a bar on office-bearers of national federations from holding office for more than two terms of four years each. It has moved court on this matter.

The POA considers itself to be a sacred cow and uses the International Olympic Committee card whenever the government moves against them.

The IOC charter, the POA officials claim, does not allow government intervention in matters of the National Olympic Committees and has always used this charter to its advantage.

Meanwhile, Musharraf said that the awards he had announced for sportspersons earlier this year were still up for grabs. Anyone becoming World No 1 in squash would get Rs 10 million while an Olympic gold winner would be eligible for an equal sum.

Winner of the prestigious British Open Squash Championship will pocket Rs 5

million and any athlete claiming a gold medal in the Asian Games would get as much money.

Musharraf said that he would himself go to Lyari to give a cash award of Rs 5 million to boxer Mehrullah who won Pakistan’s only gold medal at the Asian Games in the Korean city of Busan last year.