INSTEAD of taking lessons from past failures and moving forward, we as a nation are going back with every passing day. This was the crux of the impression one received at the 17th Sindh Games which ended in Karachi on Sunday.

Though the revival of the provincial extravaganza after a lapse of six years was a good omen, its timings was not conducive as the dates clashed with Matriculation exams and secondly the activity was organised under scorching heat.

In addition, the spectacle thoroughly exposed the poor organisational skills of a large number of officials who tour abroad every now and then for joyride but fail to bring any improvement in the system at home. Majority of these officials, who have been glued to their seats for three to four decades, have formed a nexus with those who are in corridors of power, and are primarily responsible for the alarming decline in sports.

The opening and closing ceremonies laden with mess, chaotic competitions, lack of coordination and delayed provision of the results to journalists, alleged embezzlement of technical officials, scanty daily allowance are among a plethora of other anomalies that explicitly highlight the grey areas and portray a gloomy picture of the state of affairs.

The picture of a high jumper falling on the floor between the third-rated mattresses which went viral is just one small example of the Games loaded with disasters of all kinds. The Sindh Sports Board (SSB) which was entrusted with the task of organising the athletics event following two warring factions, is responsible for the tragic episode.

This correspondent saw poor athletes, both boys and girls, felling at the finishing line after completing their track events due to extreme humidity with no provision of drinking water. The boys and girls were made to run 400m sprint thrice in a day – heat, final and 4x400m relay – besides 3,000m (women) and 10,000m (men) in intolerable weather conditions. Thank God no major casualty was reported in these highly undesirable conditions.

The opening and closing ceremonies witnessed complete mess and lack of decorum as a number of officials and participants surrounded the chief guests for photographs.

The torch had reached the PSB Coaching Centre from Quaid’s mausoleum well ahead of the opening ceremony and the arrival of the chief guest which indicates mismanagement.

The extent of gross negligence can also be gauged from the fact that Dawn faced significant hardship in securing results of various events at the Games and medals table on daily basis, and was handed over a printout of results on the concluding day.

Unfortunately, the oagsnisers also failed to provide men’s 100m and women’s 100m results that determines Fastest Man and Fastest Woman titles.

Besides athletics, judo also had a dispute in Sindh and therefore it was organised by the SSB.

Sindh Olympic Association (SOA) secretary Ahmed Ali was flattened when the Sindh Squash Association (SSA) which had the blessing of legend Jahangir Khan and not recognised by the SOA, was entrusted upon the task to organise the event. To the sheer surprise of all concerned, the details of squash were not printed in the games handbook.

Similarly, the SOA secretary compromised when chess was organised by the group affiliated with the Chess Federation of Pakistan and not the SOA.

Karachi clinched 22 of the 29 men’s disciplines while Sukkur made their mark in four, followed by Larkana two and Hyderabad one. Larkana created quite a stir by winning the inaugural T20 title with Hyderabad getting silver and Karachi bronze.

Contrary to the men, Karachi’s women swept all the 17 events that were at the stake at the games.

It is a pity that 29 Olympic, non-Olympic and indigenous sports were organised for men’s, snooker, which had brought a number of laurels to the nation, was not considered for inclusion.

A couple of so called people, with no journalistic experience, are roaming in the city and take responsibility of media coordinator and in the end fail to deliver the goods. It would have been wise had the secretary sports Niaz Ali Abbasi had constituted a three to five member media committee who understands the journalist’s requirement pertaining to results.

The organisers should have made arrangements of a computer, a person to operate it, at least at the three venues – Coaching Centre, Sindh Sports Board Nazimabad and NED University for timely provision of hard copies of the results and emails.

A handful of people allegedly tried to tarnish the sincere efforts made by young Sindh Sports Minister Sardar Mohammad Buksh Khan Mehar and Secretary Sports Niaz Ali Abbasi. They have also done a couple of good things -- distribution of quality kits to all the participants, publication of handbook among others.

The issue of the high jumper at the Games facing the injury due to the absence of proper gear was also raised on the floor of the Sindh Assembly by the opposition. Responding to it, the sports minister admitted that action had been taken against those responsible.

Last but not the least, the secretary should immediately issue instructions for the audit of the games accounts that costs over Rs40 million and making the report public.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2018