‘Competent people needed for sports’

KARACHI: Pakistan’s former athlete and experienced coach Muhammad Talib praised POA’s decision to hold a seminar on ‘Way Forward in Sports’ but he said it was ironic that office bearers of associations and federations were giving suggestions.

While talking to ‘The News’, he said that a number of speakers were giving suggestions for the promotion of sports “but the question is whom they are giving these suggestions.

“It is ironic that all stalwarts who hold big positions in federations and associations instead of taking revolutionary steps to bring Pakistani sports out of crisis are giving suggestions at seminars,” he said. Talib has served various sports teams as physical instructor.

He said the POA take a good step to organise the seminar. He said it was good to know the POA had finally realised the gravity of the situation. “Unfortunately we no longer have the services of such people as Brig Rodham, Justice A R Cornelius, Professor Anwer Chowdhary, Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Air Marshal Noor Khan and Brigadier Atif who devoted their lives to the promotion of sports.

“Due to the hard work of such people Pakistan not only shined at the Asian level but also at the world level,” he said.  

Talib added that he did not agree with some of the speakers at the seminar who said that sports decline started in 1960s.

He said that Pakistan won three gold medals in Olympics in hockey, two in 1960s and one in 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. “We also won a few silver and bronze medals after 1960s. Pakistan also won four Hockey World Cups from 1970s to 1994.

“Besides we had 1992 Cricket World Cup success and later other cricket events.

“Pakistan dominated the world of squash in the 1980s and the 1990s thanks to Jehangir Khan and Jansher Khan.

“Pakistan became the world champion in snooker in 1994 and we are still a force in that game.

So it is wrong to say that Pakistan’s sports decline began in the 1960s,” he said.

He said that the sports decline started when education and sports were separated. “When sports competitions were organised by the education ministry, there were regular activities. Sports teachers knew their responsibilities and were committed to their duties. They knew the abilities of their pupils and gave chances to them on merit.  Thus we kept getting fresh talent,” he said.

“There is no need to build up infrastructure in sports. The facilities that are available are enough. We should instead spend public money on organising maximum competitions in those disciplines which are popular here. We should train our athletes for bigger events under qualified coaches.

“Those people have become the champions of sports who have nothing to do with sports,” he said.

Talib said there were still people like Arif Abbassi, Asghar Walika and S M Sibtain who knew how to organise successful events and how to produce champion players. “There is need to use the services of these sports stalwarts who devoted their lives to sports promotion.