KARACHI, Sept 20: The Sindh Olympic Association (SOA) has become redundant with the expiry of the office-bearers’ four-year tenure on July 12. But there has been no announcement yet pertaining to holding the next quadrennial elections.
Surprisingly, there’s no clause in SOA’s constitution about its status in the given circumstances -- is the body active or did it cease to exist after completion of term.
The general practice is that if the need arises, the body gets approval from the general body to continue until fresh elections are held.
According to article 8.2.1: of the SOA constitution titled ‘Agenda for the general body meeting’, “Election of office-bearers and members of the executive committee are to be held in the year the election is due or if a position has become vacant.”
The present setup headed by Fakir Ayazuddin with Ahmed Ali as secretary, came in force after the July 12, 2003 elections. It succeeded Arif Abbasi and Shujat Ali Baig.
The incumbents woke up from time to time only to seek funds from the government for participation at the national level meets.
During the period, Sindh featured in two National Games and as many Inter-provincial games without a single penny contributed by those at the helm of the SOA. In fact it was the Sindh government, which came to their rescue by financing their participation.
After coming to power, SOA’s first task was to send a squad to feature in the inaugural Inter-provincial sports meet at Lahore.
Sindh athletes gave a lackluster performance there to finish third, behind hosts Punjab and NWFP. They collected 1,075 points by securing 6-18-27 medals. A 156-member Sindh squad including 25 officials featured in the games for which the provincial government doled out a sum of Rs3,15,000.
The 29th National Games held at Quetta in Sept-Oct 2004 also saw Sindh finishing sixth, collecting 644 points from 31 medals -- 4-9-18.
Again Sindh failed rising to the occasion in the second Inter-provincial games held in Sept last. Mustering only 2,329 points from 20-28-60 medals, they had to be content with the third place on the table for the second time running. Hosts Punjab retained the trophy claiming 4,347 points from a haul of 109-66-38 medals. NWFP also retained the runners-up slot with a tally of 2,403 points by earning 23-45-54 medals. Balochistan, as usual, finished at bottom.
The 30th National Games held in the metropolis earlier this year witnessed ugly scenes and made a laughing stock of itself.
Certain individuals have been lobbying to bring a change in the setup, something that was bitterly criticised by the POA in its last General Council meeting held at Lahore on June 30 for poorly organising the Games.
“I’m in touch with the parent body (POA) and will hold the elections as and when directed by them,” Fakir Ayazuddin told Dawn on Thursday.