ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: The executive committee of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) that met on Wednesday constituted a committee to review sports policy especially the clause relating to the tenure of federation officials.
The meeting, chaired by Federal Minister for Sports, named Muhammad Ali Durrani, Minister of State for Sports to head the committee which will submit its recommendations within 60 days.
Brig. Arif Mahmud Siddiqui, Director General of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) told journalists that there was a lengthy discussion on the clause in the policy that bars federation officials from holding office for more than two tenures.
The president of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) Lt. Gen Syed Arif Hasan felt that the policy was not being implemented in letter and spirit and therefore a review was necessary.
The committee which will now review the policy will have an official each of POA and PSB on board along with four representatives of the provinces. The other important matter that was discussed and approved was the restoration of annual grants to 11 national federations.
The grants of these federations were frozen about 18 months ago for their reluctance in implementing the sports policy. The beneficiary federations are billiards and snooker, basketball, cycling, judo, kabaddi, karate, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling.
Brig Arif said that out of these 11 federations, grants to seven which took part in the SAF Games last year were temporarily released before being seized again. Kabaddi, karate, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling were among 15 disciplines that were contested during the March 29 to April 7 Games in Islamabad.
The house also agreed to a three-fold increase in the annual grant of the federations based on performance while Gen Arif called for a yearly evaluation of their achievements.
The meeting discussed the shape and size of Pakistan contingent for the forthcoming Islamic Games in Saudi Arabia besides approving a budget of Rs 35.7 million for the event.
"We will dispatch a contingent of about 150 athletes and officials," Brig Arif said and added that the PSB's budget for 2004-05 was also approved. During the marathon meeting that went on for about four hours, the federation officials put forth their suggestions with the boxing representative stressing the need for a system of accountability.
Pakistan hockey secretary Brig Mussaratullah Khan called for simplification of procedures for sending teams abroad while the shooting official felt that allocation for hiring foreign coaches was meagre. Most of the other federations wanted their grants enhanced.
Grant of affiliation to the net ball federation was deferred for six months while Brig Arif said that Diploma and Degree classes in MSc and BSc Physical Education will begin this April in collaboration with the Allama Iqbal Open University.