ISLAMABAD: Poor coordination and planning on part of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has denied the national wrestlers a chance to participate in the prestigious Commonwealth Wrestling Championship, to be held in Melbourne this week, Dawn learnt reliably on Tuesday.
A nine-member wrestling squad from Pakistan was scheduled to participate in the 2011 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in Melbourne, Australia from Aug 5.
The squad also included two of the top wrestlers — Azhar Hussain and Mohammad Inam — who bagged medals in the last Commonwealth Games held in India in 2010.
However, slackness on part of the PSB officials have disrupted Pakistan Wrestling Federation’s (PWF) plans of sending the squad to Melbourne.
According to details gathered by Dawn, the PWF applied for the visas of the wrestlers last month after fulfilling all the pre-requisites of the federal government. The Australian High Commission then requested the PWF to furnish few more documents, specifically with regards to the sponsoring organisation for the wrestlers.
While the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination promptly issued a No-Objection-Certificate (NOC) on a request submitted by the sports board, the PSB failed to provide the letter from the sponsoring authority to the Australian HC in time which proved costly for the wrestlers.
“A verbal assurance was also issued by the foreign office but all the Australian High Commission wanted was a letter from the sponsoring authority which the PSB failed to provide,” an official of the foreign office said requesting anonymity.
“The board remained reluctant about furnishing the documents within a certain period, so the Australian HC turned down the request for the visas which has left a big question mark over the performance of the PSB officials,” said the FO official.
According to a PSB official, the wrestlers had been undergoing strenuous training for the last one month at the Pakistan Sports Complex and are obviously feeling quite disappointed by the whole affair.
The spokesman for the sports board, Azam Dar could not be reached despite repeated attempts to obtain the PSB’s version.
The secretary of the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination Committee was also not available for comments on the development.