ISLAMABAD, June 1 Several national sports federations gave a cold shoulder to the request by the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) for nominating an athlete for the upcoming 'Player the Year Award' for 2008'.

The gesture showed a lack of interest among sports federations for the award while the PSB has also shown its concern over the poor response of the national sports federations.

The board's official spokesman Azam Dar told Dawn on Monday “We have asked 40 national sports federations to nominate players for this year's award but only 12 sent in their nominees.”

The award also carries a prize money of Rs1 million for the player who passed some great milestone in his respective sport.

Originally, Pakistani sportsmen with outstanding feats at the national and international level were awarded the President's Pride of Performance.

However, these awards were discontinued after the promulgation of the 1973 Constitution, leaving no instrument of recognition for sportsmen at the national level.

The first such award was given to well-known squash player Qamar Zaman in 1975.

He added “The lukewarm response from national sports federations regarding the nomination of athletes has forced us to assume that the sports bodies are not sincere about their athletes as well as the development of sports.”

The official pointed out “The Federal Sports Ministry has constituted a four-member committee comprising top brass of the PSB and the ministry as they will select the top athlete for the award.”

Favourites among the nominated players include national hockey team's forward Rehan Butt, top ranking squash player Aamir Atlas Khan, football player Mohammad Essa and national tennis star Aqeel Khan.

When asked about the criteria of the award, he informed “The modalities of the award are yet to be defined by the PSB.”

Nominees for the Player of the Year Award for 2008

Athletics Federation of Pakistan Abdul Rashid, Mohammad Imran, Sadaf Siddiqui; Pakistan Badminton Federation Wajid Ali Chaudhry; Pakistan Football Federation Mohammad Essa; Pakistan Handball Federation Tahir Ali; Pakistan Hockey Federation Rehan Butt; Pakistan Kabaddi Federation Musharraf Javed; Pakistan Sailing Federation Zahid Rauf; Pakistan Swimming Federation Faiz Mohammad; Pakistan Squash Federation Aamir Atlas Khan; Pakistan Tennis Federation Aqeel Khan; Pakistan Taekwondo Federation Maham Aftab; Pakistan Wrestling Federation Mohammad Ali, Ghulam Haider.