- By: Mohsin Mumtaz
As the nation has undergone a rapturous celebration of Arshad Nadeem’s feat in his final quest of javelin throw orchestrated at Paris Olympics 2024, there can be little doubt that the winning of a gold medal after decades is a matter of absolute pride for the country. Nevertheless, the stellar success of the former mentioned Olympic champion serves as a flak for the government’s failure to provide a qualitative to the country’s sports domain. There is an honest reckoning in the draft, shedding light on how and why successive governments have not elicited better sports opportunities for the youth.
In this respect, the finance policies of the ruling parties that have been plagued by the funding disparity, crucially derails the sports progress. The sports authorities of the country have been putting over-emphasis on the cricket more than what was actually needed. Reportedly, with an annual budget of approximately 10 billion rupees, cricket has eclipsed the share of other games as the estimated budget of hockey rests on little more than a billion rupees. In addition, the government has been ill-fated in bridging the infrastructure gaps. The country is the motherland of more than 25 international cricket stadiums and academies , meanwhile, the few available venues of hockey and football are either insufficient or in the urgent need to be revamped. To say nothing of infrastructural leakages, the dearth of media coverage has been a matter of wider concern for the sports officials and the public as well. Cricket lives 90% of sports coverage, rendering the popularity and funding of neglected sports of hockey and football viciously hampered.
To put things in a broader context, the present state of hockey has become pitiful to such an extent that Pakistan, the three-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time World Cup champion, was shown the door in the qualification rounds in 2016 and 2020 respectively. Ironically, the world-famous game featuring 250 million players worldwide is subjected to an m situation in Pakistan. The Pakistan Football Federation has weathered drastic storms of political intervention that resulted in Pakistan’s suspension by FIFA in 2017, 2018, and 2021 simultaneously.Similarly, the spectre of neglect has never remained far from the surface of athletics and squash grounds. The squash, game of legendary Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan who got labeled with 14 collective British titles, has seen a downward trajectory. The state’s representation has been elusive from 1948 to 2018 in the Asian Games. To that end, the country has barely won a limited number of 10 medals.
.Given the grim realities, the lack of state efforts in bringing sports activities to the forefront of its preferences has throttled youth engagement in the sphere of sports. Also the disenfranchisement of sports opportunities has deprived the masses of numerous social and health perks. It can also be argued that that Pakistan, unlike other worldly nations inclusively Qatar, India and Australia that have stepped up their tourism in the face of sports , has not drawn a glare of publicity in terms of its rich landscape by publicising its sports talent. For all these ailments, the unflinching attitudes of de facto rulers persist as an impasse to this sport conquest.
Considering the gravity of the situation, several measures can be translated into reality to reverse the tide. At the very first, there is a significant need for a diversified sports policy for a just and uncontroversial share of funds. Then, corporate sponsorship is another prerequisite for the engagement of the private sector to spend larger sums on the sports industry. Last but not least, the reinstating and development of grassroots programs is of the utmost imperativeness to tread the way to sports tranquility. Succinctly, the country has uncountable Arshads who are longing for the state’s willingness to provide them with suitable sports opportunities. The government must lend a sympathetic ear to their hidden talents before the government’s neglect turns into an endless loop of discontent among the subjects.
- The author is an independent analyst and can be reached at mohsinmumtaz.pen@gmail.com