LAHORE: The five jiu-jitsu players who claimed gold and silver medals at the ongoing Asian Beach Games in Thailand were aggrieved at the fact that they weren’t honoured despite earning laurels for the country.

Speaking to reporters here on Monday, they said that it was due to their performance that Pakistan had got on the medals table prior to the start of the Games as the jiu-jtsu competition started two days before the opening ceremony.

The officials of the Pakistani contingent had returned them home before the start of the opening ceremony which was held on Nov 14 with the Games set to end on Nov 24.

“There was neither an incentive nor any encouraging announcement from the government to recognise our performances,” Ahmed Butt, a gold medallist in the +90kg category, said.

Although the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has to pay cash prizes to the gold, silver and bronze medallists of the Olympics, Asian and South Asian Games, there is no such incentive is for the Beach Games which are also a regular part of the continental calendar.

Due to the performance in jiu-jitsu, Pakistan are among the top ten countries on the medals table with a tally of two golds, three silver and two bronze. Pakistan have also earned some medals in wrestling and squash.

The other jiu-jitsu gold medallist are the team of Mohammad Ammar and Abu Hurraira.

Meanwhile, Pakistan are also unbeaten in the handball event of the games after beating Bangladesh in the third match 2-0 with a score of 21-5, 22-13.

In next match, Pakistan will take on hosts Thailand on Tuesday and in the last match of Group ‘B’ against Bahrain on Wednesday. Pakistan had defeated India and Kuwait in the first two outings.

Published in Dawn, November 18th , 2014