The Punjab Sports Festival had begun this past week to promote talent at “the grass-root level”. The competitions in athletics, badminton, cricket (hard-ball and tape-ball), football, hockey, volleyball, and kabbadi are part of the event. In Lahore, 150 union councils are holding the competitions in the first phase, with the general public participating.

In the second phase, the winners of each union council will meet in the Inter-Union Council contests. The inter-union council at tehsil level will be held for male and female participants from Feb 4.

Inter-tehsil at district level (general public) will start on Feb 16. The competition will conclude in March, with inter-district at divisional level at general public, college and university levels, too.

The project is a mega event for which the Sports Board Punjab has made preparations. There are complaints from the players that the union councils are not aware of complete programme, i.e., the venue for the matches and schedule.

Many union councils could send their teams a couple of days after the event starts because they had no proper information about the venues and schedules.

Moreover, full facilities were not provided to the players. At such level, the government is supposed to provide sports gear including proper kits to the participants in line with rules.

The government, it is suggested, should have done proper homework before taking up the challenging assignment of equipping the players with kits to encourage the youth.

The facilities were to be provided by the union councils to their respective teams, but as they lacked in such experiences in sports, many more shortcomings may be seen as the gala moves on. Hopefully, the organisers will note the inadequacies and come up with better arrangements in next editions.

This must be an annual feature as it would afford an opportunity to thousands of athletes to spend their energies in a healthy activity. Many players can be picked for further grooming, if proper record of their performance is maintained.

In Lahore, the events are being held at 17 different centres including Iqbal Park Complex, Samanabad Complex, Nawaz Sharif Stadium, Shahdara, PHA Sports Complex, Govt High School (Shahdara), Punjab University Old Campus grounds, Atiq Stadium, Samanabad Doongi Ground and Chauburji Estates Quarters ground.

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Lahore will be the venue for another major activity on Feb 4 when the representatives of the 38 national sports federations of the country will assemble here to cast their votes to elect the new body of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) for a four-year (2012-16) term.

It is the first time that the federations are going to elect its body through an election. In the past a body with the consensus would come into the power.

Three candidates (all from Punjab) are in the field for the POA presidential slot. They are: Gen Arif Hasan (retired), the present incumbent, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) President Qasim Zia and Maj-Gen Akram Sahi (retired), who is president of the Athletics Federation of Pakistan.

They have sent the nominations of their respective groups for the 38 seats of the POA body. Election Commissioner Ali Raza will announce the electoral list on Sunday (today).

The Pakistan Army has announced its support for Akram Sahi. MPA Qasim, say sources, hopes to cash in on the political backing. Arif will be contesting on the basis of his last eight years’ performance as the POA head.

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The Pakistan Cricket Board held a three-day Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto T20 tournament in the past week. Lahore remained a centre of activity, with women representing Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, KPK and Islamabad teams.

The ZTBL won the final by trouncing Punjab. The matches were held at Kinnaird College ground and Qadhafi Stadium amid tight security.

The PCB had also arranged music programme besides hiring the services of cheerleaders to turn the tournament into a festival. Ironically, the PCB has failed to make such arrangements for the final or opening ceremonies of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy.