POA should admit failure: Talib

KARACHI: Renowned athletics coach Muhammad Talib has expressed surprise over POA president Arif Hasan’s statement that the decline of sports in the country was due to the apathy and unprofessional attitude of the stakeholders.

Talking to ‘The News’, he said the POA’s president’s admission was too late as sports in the country had fallen very low.

He said fake and unelected sports organisations were emerging due to the space given by POA and its affiliated units.

“Who has the responsibility to take notice if any federation is not working properly? According to the Olympic charter, a country’s Olympic body, in our case POA, has the responsibility to put thing on the right track,” he said.

He said that sports had been destroyed in Pakistan and no one was taking any notice. “Now POA is admitting that sports have declined. POA should also tell who is responsible for this,” said Talib, whose sports career spans 39 years as athlete, coach and physical trainer.

He produced many male and female athletes who represented Pakistan at the international level. He has trained Pakistan’s senior and junior hockey teams, boxers for Asia and Olympic competitions, and women cricket team.

Talib said it was saddening to see that Pakistan would be represented by so few athletes at the Rio Olympics.

He said Pakistan was represented by as many as 36 sportsmen at 1948 London Olympics. “How pitiful is the state of sports now that we have only seven athletes participating. It is disheartening because we have been a dominant force in various disciplines,” he said.

Talib pointed out that fake organisations were flourishing in the country in connivance with government functionaries. “And POA has been watching silently,” he said.

Talib said POA must tell what it had done in the last couple of years when use of performance-enhancing drugs was spreading in the sports community.

A number of bodybuilders and athletes have died mysteriously recently. He said these deaths might have been caused by use of banned drugs but there was no action to check such things.

He said the POA must direct all the federations to put their house in order and curb the use of performance-enhancing substances. He said the players and coaches should be informed about those medicines which are commonly used for fever, flu, cough but have substances that players cannot use.

The athletics coach advised the POA to require medical tests of all sportsmen and sportswomen before sending them for international competitions. “It is not the responsibility of any stakeholder in sports but only of POA and its affiliated bodies,” he said.

He added that POA should take all those sports stalwarts into confidence who had devoted their lives for the promotion of sports and ask them how the country could avoid a crisis.

He mentioned that POA should take notice of unelected, illegal organisations operating in the country.

“Statements are not enough. The POA chief has been there for a long time. He should admit that he has been responsible for the damage to sports,” he said.

Talib said that Pakistanis were born sportsmen and there was immense talent in various disciplines. “But the conflicts in the sports officialdom have destroyed players’ careers,” he said.

“If sportsmen are given proper facilities and advanced physical training programmes, selection is made on merit, Pakistani sportsmen can once again be prominent in the world,” he claimed.