It is extremely depressing that Pakistan, a country with a huge population, is fielding just seven athletes in the Paris Olympics which began formally on July 26.

And three of the four athletes are there by virtue of wild cards; only four athletes have qualified for the world’s most prestigious extravaganza.

If we recall our Olympics history, we have won three gold, three silver and four bronze medals.

And of these medals only wrestler Mohammad Bashir (1960 Rome) and boxer Hussain Shah (1988 Seoul) have won bronze while the rest of the medals have been claimed by our men’s hockey team and we are proud of it. However due to negligence from the Pakistan government we have lost everything in that discipline too and this is the third time on the trot that we have failed to qualify for the Olympics in hockey. Hockey lost its gloss because we don’t have vision and we don’t prioritise sports. Majority of those at the helm of affairs are retired people who have passed their prime and are no longer interested in doing something different. They just want to enjoy their retired life by keeping themselves associated with sports administration. There are a few who are doing their export import businesses and sticking to sports bodies to help their businesses. Those who make sincere efforts for sports growth are just a few.

And in some cases associations and federations are a family affair. For years families have owned federations and associations. Unless we bring changes from the top we will not be able to do anything noteworthy in sports.

What we need is a new approach to handle sports and it will only be achieved if we change the entire system.

Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) is the main financier of sports but its condition is very bad. If we say that PSB is suffering from cancer it will not be wrong. The entire structure of the Board needs to be changed. We have posted clerks there and they are unable to do anything revolutionary. The Board’s DGs are always slaves of the relevant ministry. Ministers with no sports knowledge come and go. Secretaries with no sports background come and go. They enjoy some tours.

We don’t know how to qualify for the Olympics and we don’t know how to plan for it. We need technical knowledge, finances and efforts to manage things for a particular athlete so that he could train well, get ample exposure and make a cut for the Olympics. We easily surrendered Rs380 million to the finance division, an amount which was meant for sports growth. My point is that we don’t need clerks but we need a highly powerful man as head of the PSB who should be authorised to form a team of professionals so that things could be handled professionally and smartly.

Even those athletes who have the guts and can qualify for the Olympics don’t get the required training, quality coaching and exposure. They are given usually one month to go to camp, prepare without good sparring partners and try to qualify for the Olympics. It’s ridiculous. Our Paris Olympics contingent has 11 officials and only seven athletes. Is it not humiliating for a populous country? We should be ashamed of this situation.

Our sports administration has touched so low that we are going to hold the 14th South Asian Games in Pakistan and training camps have not been started. We are featuring in the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in November in Thailand but we have no camps. Is this sports governance? We should stop playing with our athletes. Officials who fail to deliver have no right to stick to their posts.

The condition of PSB coaching centres is horrible. The hostels’ condition is pathetic. They have no sports infrastructure and equipment. I have been working as a sports correspondent for the last 25 years but I have not seen any change in anything.

The authorities have no vision and they cannot do anything noteworthy. They don’t receive calls. They keep enjoying global tours and I assure you that they will be succeeded by their sons and daughters as they know how beneficial it is to stick to sports bodies.

Yes, there are a few good people who are serving well as sports administrators but their number is too small.

We won the last Olympic medal in 1992 Barcelona Games — bronze in hockey. This time in Paris we expect a stunning show from javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem and it is expected that he will break the long medal jinx.

73.alam@gmail.com