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| May 6, 2006 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 7, 1427 |
Melbourne performance a debacle: POA chief
ISLAMABAD, May 5: The head of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) said on Friday that fewer medals at the recent Commonwealth Games should not be termed a debacle.
"We have to see things in a proper perspective," Lt. Gen Syed Arif Hasan told a news conference more than a month after the Games in Melbourne where Pakistan could win only five medals, three less than in Manchester four years ago.
Comparing the performance at the Games with those in Manchester he pointed out that Pakistan's tally in Australia would have been much higher if in weightlifting the previous rule of awarding separate medals in snatch & jerk, clean and total was applied as in the 2002 edition.
Pakistan won a gold and bronze in weightlifting and a silver medal each in hockey, boxing and shooting.
Arif said that they were trying to improve the state of sport but stressed that things could not be transformed in a short period of time. "The mess in Pakistan sports is just too big to be cleared up in two or three years."
But he expressed his satisfaction that elections of almost all national federations had been held and some of them like badminton and table tennis had begun to do really well.
Pakistan meanwhile plan to send a 350-strong contingent to this year's South Asian Games in Colombo while the strength of the Asian Games squad in Doha was being worked out.
An executive committee meeting of the South Asian executive is due to take place later this month with fate of hockey as being one of the 20 men's disciplines in balance.
The gold winners at the South Asian Games will qualify automatically for the Asiad which takes place this December.
A similar invitation is also to be sent to the chief of the Olympic Council of Asia.
Arif, who also heads the Pakistan Sports Trust said that a sum of Rs22 million had been given to various national federations which will go up to approximately 34 million. Sports equipment is also being provided to them.
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