Pakistani Sports…in the abyss..!

Another black day in the sporting history of Pakistan..!

Dear Mr. Prime Minister

AoA.

I will not at all be surprised, if your very important national and international commitments, must have kept you unaware, from the extremely sad and tragic news that today for the first time ever, in the country’s 60-year history of the game of Hockey, Pakistani team is not playing the World Cup; because our team failed to qualify for the tournament, which has commenced today on Saturday, 31 May 2014 at Hague and from Asia, India, South Korea and Malaysia are participating.

Hope you remember, the Hockey World Cup was introduced by Pakistan, which also won this title 4 times in the past.

MashaAllah, next week you will be completing first year of the government.However, if we just talk about sports, it looks that the people at the helm of affairs for sports in the government, absolutely failed to stem the rot and provide any vision or guidance in the improvement of the pathetic state of affairs of the sports, particularly in games of Hockey, Cricket, Squash and Snooker, which were once dominated by Pakistan, around the world.

The improvement in the sports sector is neither difficult, nor has a requirement of rocket science. What is needed is commitment and dedication with honesty, integrity and meritocracy, without any politics, favouritism and nepotism.

Hope you are also aware about the state of the ugly affairs in the other major game of the country namely cricket, where our team came last among all the participants of the Champions trophy played in the UK, but were rewarded with an Eid bonus by Mr. Najam Sethi, as if PCB was his father’s company. Then our team went to Zimbabwe and got defeats from them (Zim a lowest status team) in a Test as well as, the ODI match. And recently Pakistani team created another record of shame, when in the T20 World Cup tournament held in Bangladesh, for the first time in the history, we failed to qualify for even the semi finals spot.

If I were the PM, all the sports administrators including the minister in charge, would have been sacked with the orders to refund entire pay and perks waisted on them for abysmally failing, during the last one year of the government, to deliver even 1% positive results.

Again, if I were the PM, for the sake of the name and image of Pakistan, for which our soldiers are almost daily embracing martyrdom, I would have gone across the party lines, to select an advisor for sports, who could turn around all the major sports played in the country, in not more than a years time.

In this regard, the following three names come to my mind, for selecting amongst them, a national sports advisor to the P.M.

1. AVM Farooq Umar Ex. CEO & M.D. PIA. He was also elected “President Pakistan Hockey Federation.” (PHF) It was during his tenure that he Resurrected Pakistan Hockey and made it Win the “World Champions Trophy” and the “World Cup Sydney 94” after a long lapse of 14 years . His success depended on upfront leadership and the ability to motivate the players right in the play field.

2. Lt. Gen (R) Tauqir Zia. As the chairman Pakistan Cricket Board for 4 years, he not only introduced the “Vision 2005″, paragon for the promotion and development of Cricket in Pakistan but also managed to implement almost 75% of that Project in every part of the country particularly in the far flung areas of Balochistan, Sind and Frontier.

3. Khalid Mahmood. His keen interest in sports particularly cricket, provided Mr. Khalid Mahmood opportunities to serve Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in various capacities: Honorary Secretary (1975-1976), Member PCB Council (1988-94), Manager of Pakistan Cricket Team touring England, South Africa and the West Indies (1992-1993) and as Chairman PCB (1998-1999).

Before concluding, I would like to bring to your kind notice that please don’t consider sports as something which should be left as your last priority, on the national agenda. And if any proof was required to substantiate my request, here is the statement for your kind perusal, about the power of the sports, by one of the greatest statesman of the world, late Mr. Nelson Mandela.

“Sport has the power to change the world…it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.”

Now, taking a cue from the above mentioned statement of late Mr. Nelson Mandela, it is suggested that Pakistani government should slightly re-phrase it and declare the following as its mission statement: “Sports has the power to change Pakistan…it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite Pakistani people in a way that little else does. It speaks to the Pakistani youth in a language they understand. Sports can create hope for the entire Pakistani nation where once there was only despair, lawlessness, hunger, poverty, drugs, suicide bombings and alarming increase of suicides, due to the economic hardships. It is more powerful than government in breaking down the menace of terrorism which has blown Pakistan to the smithereens.”

With best wishes and kind regards,

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad