Hardly anything turned out positive for Pakistan sports in 2014.

The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) as well as the government has failed to promote the country’s soft image through games with the last two years seeing the country nose-diving in the field mainly due to hitherto incessant clash between the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and the government over the National Sports Policy 2005.

Now with the start of new year, it is high time for all the stakeholders to come out with a strong resolve to launch brisk efforts to repair the huge damage suffered by Pakistan sports due to clashes among institutions and eliminating dirty politics which not only put the sports on a slippery slope but also earned a bad name for the country across the world of sports. It is also this dirty politics due to which we have simply failed to utilise the medium of sports as a promoter of soft image of Pakistan which the country badly needs considering the fact that international teams are hardly gearing up for visiting Pakistan.

The government is no exception when it comes to failure of sports federations and other institutions to promote country’s soft image in 2014 for the government not only illegally subscribed to the PSB stance of supporting the illegal POA body led by a rival of retired General Arif Hasan but also lacked the will to use sports for the betterment of youths as well as that of society at large.

Have all the stakeholders learnt their lessons? Will they seek to explore how much damage is done to players, of late? Last but not the least, have they got any roadmap regarding sports development in the country particularly during the 2015? These questions arise whenever anyone thinks about the future of Pakistan in sports.

Hoping against hope, particularly considering PSB’s dirty role in the conflict between the two rival POA bodies, the PSB will possibly come out with a very clear strategy for the year 2015. The PSB this time won’t rave about only some clauses of the National Sports Policy but would try to analyze things in retrospection which may enable it to look at its own role vis-à-vis the national sports federations in the light of the said policy that without a speck of doubt also demands contributions from the PSB.

Despite all international concerns particularly those emanating from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding government’s support to an unrecognised POA led by Akram Sahi due to which the IOC threatened ban on POA, the PSB went for staging its own National Games in 2013 in collaboration with rival POA body led by Akram Sahi and spent millions of rupees on the Games. The conduct of the Games happened despite the fact that just six months before the Games, the POA led by Arif — which later proved a genuine body recognised by the IOC against PSB-supported Akram Sahi-led POA — organised the National Games by spending far less amount.

So far the PSB has not been able to conduct audit of the account spent on the Games staged by the PSB despite lapse of 18 months.

Whatever its shortcomings, it is the time for the PSB to announce a clear-cut policy for the national sports federations followed by releasing handsome grants to them but of course on the basis of performance. In the past, many blue-eyed national sports federations received major portion of the PSB grant without showing any performance. They did so because the sports federations’ officials drawing undue favours from the PSB were either running their federations by holding offices in different government departments or having personal relationship with PSB officials. In this gloomy scenario, merit became a major casualty.

On many occasions, the PSB did not come forward to aiding some deserving sports federations, it even failed to help them in organising international events just because they did not have influential office-bearers. Again, it is expected that a crystal clear system would be implemented this time around in this regard and the details of the grants will also be displayed on the PSB’s official website in future.

In fact, PSB’s resolve for this year should be to encourage all those national sports federations which will organise any international event in Pakistan. The country has become a no-go area for the international teams due to the ongoing terrorism. So, it is high time to make efforts in connection with encouraging those who want to invite foreign teams to Pakistan as it is the only way to revive dying sports of the country.

The neighbouring India has chalked out a comprehensive sports policy under which competitions in cricket, hockey, tennis, badminton and football are being held on league basis offering foreign players attractive packages. Even Pakistan players have a great desire to participate in Indian leagues just because their future in Pakistan is bleak.

Notwithstanding, Indians are avoiding Pakistan’s participation in their leagues for different reasons which should be more than enough for our sport official to organise more sports events both for the sake of players as well as fans.

Moreover, the PSB should also resolve to acknowledge players for earning honours besides holding comprehensive training camps for players to enable them to participate in international events with added confidence.

Undoubtedly, the government has to express its determination regarding improving sports standard in Pakistan without wasting any further time, for the country not only badly needs it but it may help in making 2015 a milestone in the development of sports in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2015