Covid-19 crisis poses huge challenges for all sports and sportspersons
NO competition, no sponsor. No sponsor no disbursement of money down the ladder. Coronavirus pandemic that has taken the world by storm including the super powers has brought all sporting activities to a standstill and has compelled Japan to defer Tokyo Olympics.
The spike in Covid-19 patients has put a question mark on the resumption of sports events and has disrupted all domestic and international calendars of events while millions of athletes and people connected with sports have started facing its financial impact.
History shows that Olympic Games could not take place on time twice during the World Wars 1 and 2. The Olympic Games in 1916 could not take place due to World War I that was held from 1914 to 1918. Again the athletes were deprived twice during World War II when Olympics in 1940 and 1944 could not be held.
While on one hand the Covid-19 outbreak has demoralised the athletes, on the other it is pushing the already cash-strapped national sporting bodies into a very difficult situation.
In the present scenario, that could get prolonged by many more months, it is time to ponder and minimise the expenses.
Most of the national sports federation who rely on government funding should forget any help or support from Islamabad in the next fiscal year in view of the given circumstances.
The Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) is no exception. It is expecting to receive some pending funds of previous foreign tours from the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) before June 30. “We are looking forward to get the pending payments as we received Rs 0.3m in June last,” the PBSF President Munawwar Hussain Shaikh told Dawn on Wednesday.
Responding to a query he sounded confident that despite limited funds in its kitty the PBSF can survive for a couple of months as two national ranking events are yet to take place in the second half of the year.
He disclosed that the three Asian events — 15 Reds Asian Snooker, 6-Reds Asian Team and Individual events — have already been postponed by the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports (ACBS). The annual general body meeting of ACBS that was slated to take place on its sidelines in Doha has also been put off, he said.
He added that this is also the year of world body — the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) — elections sometime in Oct or Nov followed by the PBSF elections.
Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2020