The last week, a four-day camp was held to hone the skills of basketball players in the Punjab Sports Board Gymnasium Hall.

Spanish coaches Javier Huertas and Javier Munoz conducted the camp with the collaboration of the Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBF) and the Sports Board Punjab. Up to 250 male and female players from Punjab districts attended the camp.

Mr Huertas told Dawn he was quite impressed by the energy the players exhibited to learn the finer points of the game. Though the camp was not for a longer period, he said, it was enough to impart the basic points on the players. Huertas is an international basketball coach and has trained players the world over. He says the average height of the Pakistani players is good and the country can do wonders in the game with better planning and coaching.

This time, the PBF gave free training to 200 players, who could not pay fees. Trials were held in Bahawalpur, Lahore, Rawalpindi and some other parts of the province to pick the right players. Fifty players also showed their interest in training but they were charged Rs2,000 to 4,000 to get the training. All participants also received kits, including branded joggers.

PBF Secretary Khalid Bashir says the decision to charge fees from those who could afford was taken due to a bad experience. He says last year same two Spanish coaches came to Pakistan to hold the camp. The players after getting precious kits and joggers on the first day of the camp, did not return the next day. So, he added, this time the federation was not ready to repeat the history, so the players were bound to attend the camp for four days. The training time was from 9am to 6pm. The federation also offered meals to the players.

This last week, a Pakistani contingent has started leaving for Indonesia in batches to participate in the Asian Games being held there from August 18. The handball team was the first to take a flight to Jakarta, followed by football and hockey teams.

The news that the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) will only sponsors 140 athletes, instead of 245, proved wrong. Overall, a contingent of 359 athletes and officials is to compete for 35 games. Of them, 245 are being sponsored by the PSB while the remaining people are on self-finance rule. Though the contingent is big, chances to claim any medal in hockey, weightlifting, wrestling and boxing are bleak.

The standard of the Asian Games is tough as compared to Commonwealth Games, as the countries like China, Japan, South Korea, and Central Asian states like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and others are part of these games. The Pakistan hockey team needs a gold medal to confirm its berth in the 2020 Olympics, but in the presence of India, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, the quest for a top position seems difficult. Pakistan could not qualify for the Olympics 2016, held in Brazil, after earning a silver medal in the Asian Games held in South Korea in 2014.

Male players will participate in 35 games, and females in some selected sports.

Last time, the Asian Games were held in South Korea and Pakistani contingent came back with five medals, one gold (women cricket), one silver (men’s hockey), three bronze one each in boxing, wushu and kabaddi.

Though the PSB also set up the training camp to train athletes for the games, the standard of those camps was not good. Just for the sack of performing against the best talent of Asia, games are a forum for the Pakistani athletes.

As the installation of floodlights at the LCCA ground has yet to be done, the Sports Board Punjab (SBP) and the Lahore Region Cricket Association have agreed to build new pavilions of the LCCA ground.

The SBP approved the plan to install the floodlights some four years back but it has been delayed due to reason or another, despite funds were approved for it.

Floodlights have been installed and only the alignment of bulbs is being done by foreign experts. It may take another one week after which generators will be installed.

The project of the pavilion is also important, as the existing facility is not sufficient for players. Time will tell how much time the SBP will take to complete the project. The LRCA also lacks facilities like conference room, stands for the spectators, hostel and cafeteria.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2018