KARACHI: Shahzain Malik became the youngest-ever president of the Karachi Basketball Association (KBBA) after he was elected during the body’s polls held here at a local hotel on Saturday.

Shahzain, 33, an executive director at a corporate giant, is the founder of the League of Basketball — a platform for the sport’s aspirants — and an active player himself. His ascension to the KBBA helm indicates the start of a new era for the city’s basketball scene.

The elections, held under the supervision of the Karachi Basketball Scrutiny Committee and observed by provincial and national sports bodies, concluded successfully after a seven-year hiatus caused by parallel associations.

Veteran basketball organiser and former FIBA referee Mohammad Yaqoob Qadry was elected as the KBBA secretary.

“With young and new faces now at helm, hopefully sports will progress and go in right direction,” an optimistic Yaqoob told Dawn after the elections.

Echoing Yaqoob’s views, newly-elected associate secretary Ans Azhar vowed the fresh administration would work towards a swift administrative overhaul.

“… our first priority is to draft a charter and update outdated rules, such as those that lead to player suspensions or bans within the association,” Ans told Dawn.

The 31-year old also stressed that transparency was fundamental to his team’s approach.

“All the rules and regulations of the association should be readily available and everyone should have access to it, which wasn’t the case before,” Ans, who plays for Omega Club, explained.

“We have to engage the youth,” he asserted. “We will try to hold junior level tournaments as in the recent years the Sindh junior team didn’t get a chance to compete in the national tournaments.”

The new leadership also includes senior-most member, Mohammad Yaqoob, who was elected senior vice-president, while Haji Salim Qureshi was named the chairman of the association.

The elected office-bearers include Azeem-us-Shaan and Zeyd Sheikh as vice-presidents, Shiraz Alam as treasurer and Syed Adnan Ali alongside Ans as associate secretaries.

The Executive Committee comprises Umer Khawaja, Ans, Ghulam Mohammad Memon and Jamil Shaikh.

Demonstrating immediate focus on core functions, the KBBA simultaneously formed a four-member selection committee featuring Azeem, Ghulam Mohammad, Zeyd Sheikh and Arhum Latif.

A dedicated four-member referees board was also constituted, including Amir Ghayaas, Amil Khan, Haroon Khan and Yousuf Khan.

The election process followed rigorous scrutiny by the Karachi Basketball Scrutiny Committee — led by Ashfaq Ahmed — which verified and finalised 16 city clubs with voting rights.

The polling was observed by Ismail Shah from the Sindh Government’s Sports Department, Sindh Olympic Association secretary Ali Rajpoot and Pakistan Basketball Federation representative Syed Modoud Jaffery.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2025