LAHORE: Giving topmost importance to national interest, the Ski Federation of Pakistan (SFP) provided its skier Mohammad Karim the chance to represent the country in the Winter Olympics in Sochi by requesting retired Lt Gen Arif Hasan-headed Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) to ensure the accreditation of the athlete.

The Games opened in Sochi on Friday and according to a press release issued by the POA president retired Lt Gen Arif, Karim has reached the Russian Black Sea resort after his accreditation was completed in efforts made during the last few days.

“Mohammad Karim has reached Sochi to participate in the Winter Olympics and will get rich exposure to international conditions while participating amongst the best. He is fortunate to participate in this Olympics as while the SFP sent its request to the POA the accreditation for participation in the Games deadline had passed.

“In fact, with just a few days to go, Lt Gen Arif and his team made all-out efforts to ensure this bright star [Karim] of Pakistan does not miss this chance due to some petty politics.

The POA president POA personally contacted the officials concerned to ensure that all procedures were completed in time and just about managed to get a slot for the skier [in Sochi],” the POA press release read.

“Lt Gen Arif stated that he is very pleased to see a national athlete who had already qualified for the Winter Olympics, participating in this mega event.

“Depriving him of this chance would have been not only very disappointing for Karim but would also have sent all the national athletes a very discouraging message.

“The SFP took the right decision based on the interest of skiers and opted for the right course,” the release added.

Air Marshal Syed Athar Hussain Bukhari, the SFP president, is the chef de mission in Sochi.

It may be mentioned that ignoring the athletes’ interest the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and the Ministry for Inter-provincial Coordination have during the last year or so has deprived many players of participation in international events, mainly because it does not recognise Gen Arif-lead POA body, which is the sole authority to ensure Pakistan athletes’ participation in international events.

Instead, both government institutions are supporting Akram Sahi-headed POA group, a move which resulted in Pakistan not fielding full-strength contingent at the Islamic Games held in Indonesia in 2013.

Due to the same attitude of the government institutions, it is feared, no athlete from the country will be eligible to participate in this year’s Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.

Interestingly, earlier the SFP was also following government instructions, an approach which put Karim’s participation in Sochi Games at stake. However, at the eleventh hour — to the pleasure of many winter sports followers — the federation changed its stance towards Gen Arif’s body, preferring the athlete’s interest first.

This SFP gesture, one feels, should have been shown by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) too as national hockey team have literally no chance of featuring in the Asian Games — where Pakistan will be defending the hockey title they won in the 2010 Guangzhou Games — and the Commonwealth Games.