ISLAMABAD: At long last, the confusion over participation of Pakistani boxers in the upcoming Asian Boxing Championship is put to rest with the Pakistan Sport Board (PSB) deciding on Tuesday to release funds to the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF).

Pakistan’s participation in the Asian Boxing Champi­onship scheduled to be held from Aug 25 to Sept 5 in Bangkok had been in the doldrums due to shortage of funds with the boxing federation for which the PSB has held the PBF responsible stating the latter has not taken up the matter with it well on time.

“Although there are only a few days left in the commencement of the event, we will ensure participation of boxing team in the mega event,” said PSB director general Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera.

He said that in accordance with the government instruction for participation in any international sports competition the federations are supposed to submit a complete case on PSB-prescribed pro forma along with the invitation, computer clearance pro forma, surety bond, undertaking and departmental NOC at least six weeks before departure of the team.

“However, the boxing federation has so far failed to submit the required details,” Ganjera claimed, adding that despite PBF failure to submit the required details, the PSB would make utmost efforts to ensure the boxing team features in the Asian Boxing Championship.

The boxing federation was asked through a letter dated July 27 to fulfill the abovementioned formalities but they didn’t pay any heed to the PSB letter, said the PSB director general who also referred to PBF letter addressing the PSB in connection with releasing of funds to the former.

Elaborating on the PBF letter, Ganjera said that the PBF without fulfilling the criteria of getting special grant requested the PSB through a letter dated Aug 15 to release funds to the tune of Rs2,151,340/-.

“At the moment, I can’t say exactly how much funds the PSB will release but one thing is clear and that is we will ensure participation of our boxers in the Asian Championship,” he maintained.

On the other hand, a press release issued by the PSB said that as reported in the press the PBF elections held on Dec 19, 2012 were disputed, adding the boxing federation did not invite PSB representatives to get the election process certified.

The federation also failed to submit the minutes of the election meeting along with required documents so that the PSB could assess the authenticity of the election, read the official statement.

Nevertheless, considering the Lausanne agreement, said the statement, the PSB asked for information from all the national sport federations through a letter dated Sept 9, 2014 but the PBF failed to submit the same till to date.

“It was clearly mentioned in the reminder that those federations which failed to implement the requisite S.R.O will not be funded. Despite PSB’s letter dated Aug 5, 2015, the PBF is yet to submit the required documents,” it further said.

However, it did add that the PSB would try to arrange funds for the participation of boxing team in the international event after obtaining NOC from the government.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2015

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