BACK in the 1970s, sports was among the most sought after entertainment and recreation for the youth. Sports enthusiasts would often gather in huge numbers to watch a cricket match or a hockey tournament, a squash clash or an athletics meet and embraced sports like nothing else.

These enthusiasts got tremendously inspired by watching icons such as Imran Khan, Jahangir Khan, Javed Miandad, Samiullah and many others and instantly related to these larger than life sportspersons as role models and strived to emulate them.

Subsequently, from among these fans and these enthusiasts emerged a new generation of iconic players like Wasim Akram, Younis Khan, Waqar Younis, Amir Atlas Khan, Sohail Abbas and several others who carried the legacy of their idols with aplomb.

Today, however, the scenario is not that rosy. While cricket is still thriving as a sport, thanks to the great amount of money involved, Pakistan’s national game hockey besides squash, athletics, table tennis, tennis, snooker and almost all other sport have taken a nosedive where the standards are concerned.

Being a media person and an avid fan of sports, my curiosity has grown about the decline in sports in Pakistan. Why are the youth of our country not taking to sports like before. What are the real reasons behind their lack of interest?

To begin with, I was in for a pleasant surprise. My initial research showed that in recent times, there has been a budding trend among the girls taking active part in sport. And, as per my findings, that notion proved right in many cases.

I started by speaking to a young, all-round athlete Omema who plays throwball, basketball and cricket. Though she has recently moved to the UAE, she insisted that the participation of youth in sport is still big and there were many inter-school, inter-university and inter-city tournaments in which she represented Karachi in the last decade.

She shared that she enjoyed many opportunities as a student that were provided to people of her age on a governmental, as well as on a private level, which catered to the female players as much as they do to the males. “Just like there are males who couldn’t care less about sports, there are females who feel the same way. However, there is a considerable number of females who go out and participate alongside the males in many a sport and become successful sportswomen,” said Omema, who has many trophies to her name in basketball and throwball games that she played and won.

What Omema said can be backed by the contribution of females in sports in Pakistan in the past decade. Against all odds, left-handed batsman Bismah Maroof is now heading Pakistan women’s cricket team, which itself is an accomplishment given how the society still seems to be taking its time to accept women in outdoor arenas. Apart from that, Hajra Khan, a talented young footballer from Karachi, is the women’s national football team captain since 2014 which is a result of opportunities provided and favorably used by young women like her.

However, for the girls, lack of dedicated playgrounds is indeed a discouraging factor. I was keen to know, though, that with the land mafia invading many open spaces in the city, whether the boys had better and more facilities still available to them. And I was right. There is no doubt males in our society get enough leverage over the females when it comes to playing sports; However, the kind of enthusiasm which was previously shown by young males towards sports is rather scarce these days.

Among the many males I spoke to, I found that there were only some who seemed remotely interested in anything to do with sports. The maximum interest shown was in soccer, and even that was not too great.

Salman, a football player in a private university in Karachi, spoke to me about how well private institutions provided both both boys and girls with opportunities that not only created interest among the participants but can also reward them with platforms to further excel in their lives ahead. “I do not agree with the idea that girls in this time and age do not play sports. There might be limited resources for girls in comparison to boys of the same age, but they are there and are being effectively used by many,” contended Salman.

Having said that, there are many reasons as to why there is a lack of interest in outdoor sports now as compared to how it was in the 70s-90s time period. A lot has changed with the advent of social media and the internet. People who were previously motivated to go out and play, would now rather stay in bed and scroll down on their Facebook page instead.

We spend an average of forty minutes to an hour on social media platforms every day. Most of the people who would have thought about heading out to play a sport now find themselves involved passive activities rather than active ones. The opportunities may increase over time, but what value can they add to the scene if there are no agreeable actors to play their part? There are many scholarships for sportsmen around the world and in Pakistan which can be effectively used by people who wish to pursue a career in the field. However, not many are utilized, unfortunately.

We surely need more sportspeople emerging from our country with a focused vision and determination, as only that can maintain this medium’s integrity and strength, as well the number of people signing up to become successful sportsmen in the future.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2018