Apart from bringing an immediate change in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the present government has not bothered to give respite to the national game of hockey, leave aside announcing measures to eradicate corrupt practices in other sports.

Meanwhile, despite being right there under its nose, the Islamabad-based Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has turned into a white elephant. Sportspersons believe that the PSB has deviated from its aims and objectives, which is evident from the fact that some of its top bosses were allegedly found involved in corruption. And the government’s silence on all this has been creating doubts in the minds of the sports fraternity as eliminating corruption at all levels is supposed to be a part of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf’s (PTI) agenda.  

The institution, which has remained in the news for its alleged wrongdoings in the last couple of years, hogged the limelight again when its Director General Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in October last year on charges of massive corruption pertaining to the multi-billion rupee Narowal Sports City project in Punjab. Narowal comes in the National Assembly constituency of the former PML-N Minister Ahsan Iqbal.

The government needs to look into what’s going on at the Pakistan Sports Board if it is serious about the uplift of sports in the country

The arrest has not only brought disgrace to the PSB and the concerned ministry, it has also embarrassed sportspersons associated with it.

History shows that after its coming into being under the umbrella of the Ministry of Education in 1962, the PSB yielded fruitful results for quite a long time primarily due to two reasons. First, there were some wise men at the helm of affairs and second, sports were part of education.  

“Pakistan was considered a force to be reckoned with in Asia in the 1960s and ’70s when even resources were limited. But unfortunately those standards have declined despite manifold rise in facilities,” laments veteran athlete Mohammad Talib. 

After the creation of the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Tourism, the PSB’s administrative control was transferred to it in 1977. The board’s control was once again transferred to the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) following the devolution of the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Tourism in 2011.

Spread over a sprawling area of 300 yards close to Aabpara, the multi-purpose PSB Sports Complex was constructed by Chinese engineers for hosting the 1978 Asian Games, but unfortunately Pakistan could not host the games, and the quadrennial event was shifted to Bangkok.

According to sources, the PSB Sports Complex, which has hosted the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games twice — in 1989 and 2004 — has an approximate strength of 600 employees including 125 daily wagers. It is a multi-purpose venue. The Liaquat Gymnasium there was formally inaugurated when Pakistan played host to the seventh Asian Table Tennis Championships in 1984.

It turned out to be one of the biggest sporting galas ever held in Pakistan. Players, both men and women, from 24 nations took part in the spectacle while delegates from 30 Asian countries attended the Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU) moot. “It’s the biggest sporting event held in Pakistan in terms of foreign countries’ participation,” says Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF) President S.M. Sibtain.

But since then, the PSB has allegedly remained involved in patronising parallel national sports federations, while wasting government exchequer’s money and carrying out all other work except promoting healthy sports activities. The height of corruption there can be gauged from the fact that PSB had doled out approximately Rs130 million for hosting the 2013 National Games at Islamabad by the then rival faction of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA).

The complex’s hostel is also in a shambles. Recently, a sports official who had stayed there had to pay from his pocket to buy and fix the Muslim showers in the bathrooms.

Despite the passing of the 18th Amendment by the National Assembly in 2010, the PSB Coaching Centre in Karachi which comes under the PSB has not been devolved to the provincial government. The Karachi centre, which is spread over 24.5 acres of prized land opposite the National Stadium, is without a director for the last eight to 10 years. The staff there faces job uncertainty.

Facts and figures show that the centre has earned approximately Rs23 million over the last five years — 2013 to 2018 — through its own resources. It has 1200 to 1500 members and its two planned projects, namely the boxing gymnasium and the 20-room women’s hostel, have failed to see the light of day. Insiders say the projects are lying idle for want of remaining 15 per cent work. However, three blocks of flats for employees have been completed.

Meanwhile, there are 40 plus national federations and most of them depend solely on government grants instead of exploring avenues to generate funds to become self-sufficient. Despite repeatedly giving press statements, neither the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) nor the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) nor any other national federation have been able to launch professional leagues for generating funds.

On the other hand, a large number of national federations are disturbed by the delay in PSB releasing their annual and special grants despite the submission of audited statements for 2017-18. The PSB used to disburse approximately Rs40 million annually among some national federations.

The PSB should identify select medal-winning sports — preferably individual sports, besides a few team games — for financial support and stop funding a large number of national federations. Former DG PSB, the late Zakir Hussain Syed, had opposed appointments of high-powered government officials and politicians at the helm of sports federations. “The control of high-powered government officials and politicians over the sports federations serve no purpose as they fail to put the game on the right track,” he had once stated when talking about the PSB’s deteriorating standards.

Sports officials have also opposed the appointment of the incumbent PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani as head of the Task Force for Sports by Prime Minister Imran Khan.           

“Cricket and rest of the Olympic sports are different ball games and need an old hand with expertise and vision not only to handle its affairs but also to take it out of crisis,” says a veteran sports official on the condition of anonymity.

Besides revising the structure of grants, it would be wise if the government restricted persons aged above 60 from holding key offices in national and provincial sports federations. This will bring more energetic people to the fore to serve sports.

PSB should either be made an autonomous body or the government should appoint someone at its helm having calibre similar to that of late Brig Rodham, who meritoriously served the country’s sports.

The writer is a member of staff

Published in Dawn, EOS, April 21st, 2019