On Saturday (yesterday), one of the main stories on the sports pages of most national newspapers was Arshad Nadeem’s bronze medal in the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku. Pakistan’s top javelin thrower recorded a throw of 76.80 to win his country’s only medal on Friday. It was in fact Pakistan’s first medal after a two-day drought.

Many reports, in newspapers and on TV and news websites, celebrated it as a big achievement. Among the many who hailed it was Maj Gen Akram Sahi, president of the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP).

But don’t believe a word that sports officials like General Sahi are telling you. Because everything they say is a bundle of lies.

Now, Arshad might have punched above his weight to win a bronze in Baku. But take a look at the numbers. His throw was measured at 76.33 metres. The event was won by a young Qatari athlete, Badar Ahmed Magour. He claimed the gold medal with a throw of 83.50 metres. That’s a huge difference and underlines the fact that Pakistan’s athletes, even the few who are winning medals, lag far behind their rivals even in the Islamic world.

Take a look at more figures. Till Saturday (yesterday) morning, Pakistan had claimed a haul of six medals. With just two more days to go before the curtain falls on the 57-nation spectacle, Pakistan had not won even a single gold medal. Out of their grand tally of six medals, four were bronze and the other two silver. Till Saturday morning, Turkey had won 164 medals with 63 golds. And they were still on the second place as hosts Azerbaijan, with 64 gold medals, were in pole position. Pakistan were placed at 26th place even behind countries like Benin, Gambia and Bangladesh.

It’s a sorry state of affairs for a nation that takes a lot of pride in its sporting history. Pakistan is one of the most populated of the Islamic nations with a proven track record in the field of sports. In an event like the Islamic Games, which doesn’t feature most of the world’s top athletes, Pakistan should have been there in the top-three. But the way things are going, they won’t even be in the top-20.

But men like General Sahi will tell you that you should be happy that Pakistan are at least getting "a place on the podium and the nation’s flag is being raised at an event which is being watched by the entire world."

Can you believe that? Our athletes are getting thrashed in Baku and our sports chiefs are telling us to celebrate a silver medal here and a bronze medal there. And worse, we are taking the bait.

It’s not just about Sahi and his AFP. They are just part of a bigger problem. There is a widespread slump across the world of Pakistan sports. The standard of sports in Pakistan has dipped to the extent that even bronze medals in a sporting sideshow like the ongoing Islamic Solidarity Games are being hailed as major achievements.

The slump isn’t fresh news. We have been witnessing it for years. Pakistan have been reduced to the role of also-rans not just in major sporting spectacles like the Olympic Games but even in relatively smaller events like the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. There was a time when Pakistan will figure among the medal winners in Olympics but that has now become a thing of the distant past. Now, even medals in the Asian Games have become quite a rarity.

The slump will continue unless we start holding the country’s sports chiefs accountable. Our sports officialdom has become a mafia that needs to be dismantled if Pakistan want to put their athletes back on track. But it’s easier said than done. Most of our sports chiefs are appointed by our political leaders. Others have the backing of the various wings of our military. There are elections, which take place every now and then, but we know how elections are won and lost in our country.

I don’t know of a single sporting body in Pakistan which has managed to place right men in the right place. And that includes our richest and most influential sporting body, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Last week when Pakistan’s sports officials were celebrating their grand success in Baku, our cricket chiefs were trying to portray themselves as the world’s biggest crusaders against corruption in the sport. They had Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the head of International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit, flown into Lahore to tell Pakistani fans that the country’s cricket was in safe hands.

Flanagan declared that proceedings related to the Pakistan Super League (PSL) pot-fixing case were being carried out in the "most professional manner". The Board was quick to issue a media release with quotes that stressed how Flanagan heaped praise on the PCB and its professionalism. It’s actually funny considering that the PSL spot-fixing case pits the Board against its own players. There will be no winners in this case. That’s why the Board’s efforts to somehow come out clean from the PSL corruption mess appear to be counterproductive. The Board’s top officials should be asked as to why it failed to take enough measures to make sure that such a scandal didn’t happen in the first place. After all, there were ample warnings. When PCB opted to launch the Twenty20 league in the bookie-infested confines of Dubai and Sharjah, they should have known that players like Khalid Latif – currently portrayed by the Board as Pakistan cricket’s enemy number one – would be like sitting ducks in the face of various onslaughts by the numerous fixing mafias. But instead of taking responsibility, the Board is trying to come across as the body that is out there to save Pakistan cricket in the most professional manner. And once the culprits of the PSL scam are punished, they would want us to see the punishments as a victory for Pakistan cricket. Just like Sahi and AFP want us to believe that a javelin bronze in Baku is an achievement.