The nation cast the votes to elect a new government for the next five years. As per tradition, with the change of the command at the top, the heads have been rolling in almost every department. There is news that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi and Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president retired Brig Sajjad Khokhar will be changed sooner or later. The heads of both these institutions are to be recommended by the new prime minister of the country.

Both Sethi and Sajjad were recommended by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and as Imran Khan is likely to be the next premier, changes are expected. As the relations between Sethi and Imran have been strained in the past, it is less likely that the former would be able to complete the remaining two years of his three-year term. Though the PCB has earned some notable achievements in the past three years (jointly run by Shahryar Khan and Sethi from 2014 to 2017 and later alone by Sethi since July 2017) but they may not help Sethi safeguard his post. Pakistan won the Champions Trophy in 2017 and it also successfully launched the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The cricket team is improving its world ranking both in the ODI, Test while it is the number one team of the world in T20. No one can predict at the moment if Imran Khan follows the tradition or allows Sethi to continue for some achievements to his credit. Hopefully, a better decision will be taken on solid grounds.

Retired Brig Sajjad had got the post of PHF president, mainly because of his close relationship with former federal minister Ahsan Iqbal that’s why the changes in the PHF are also expected. While Sethi has some achievements, Sajjad has nothing like that to his credit as the performance of the national team has been dismal in recent years. In his first tenure of his two years, the PHF failed to win any tournament; instead the Pakistan team suffered heavy defeats at the hands of low-ranked teams like Japan and Canada. Two months back, Sajjad held elections of the PHF through controversial means and got elected for the next four years. But as prime minister is the patron of the PHF, Sajjad must have to get the consent of the upcoming prime minister to continue, otherwise, a change is visible. There are reports that some hockey Olympians who have been supporting the PTI are trying to get in the PHF.

After a lapse of almost eight years, the Sports Board Punjab (SBP) held Under-16 competitions at the Lahore Division inter-district level, this month. The games selected for the events were hockey, football, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, wrestling and taekwondo. Kasur, Nankana Sahib, Sheikhupura and Lahore districts participated in it. Lahore won five titles out of total seven and remained winners in badminton, hockey, table tennis, taekwondo and wrestling. Nankana Sahib won football despite being a small district. Sheikhupura also showed its presence by winning the volleyball title.

The sports board plans to hold more competitions in this age group in other 36 districts of Punjab, under a phase-wise programme. Almost 10 years back, the sports board has been organising the Under-16 contest for the girls and Under-14 for the boys to pick up the talent at this age. But the Punjab government of PML-N introduced the culture of youth festivals, ignoring the basic concept of grooming the talent at the grassroots. Hopefully, the sports board will also restore the old tradition of awarding monthly stipends to the best players of this age group.

Heavy rains in Lahore badly hit the sporting community and no big event in sports was witnessed during last week. Only the Punjab Archery Association held a two-day Punjab Women Championship at the Punjab Stadium where a low number of archers could enter. Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Multan, Jhang, Bahawalpur and Khanewal participated in it with their teams. The game of archery is getting popular in Punjab, both in men and women, which is a good sign.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2018