Pakistan is blessed with a number of sports stars, who made the country proud by winning laurels internationally. Shahid Tariq Masih, a resident of Rawalpindi, is one of them.

He has never got any financial assistance from the government. But he has still performed outstandingly for the country.

Tariq represented Pakistan in 2008 First Martial Art Festival and Al-Fajar Asia Cup in Tehran and Mashhad, respectively, and bagged one gold and three bronze medals in different categories for Pakistan.

The 26-year-old kickboxing champion has a strong desire to represent the country but lack of finances and logistics support has prevented him from doing so.

“I can’t forget how I practised barefoot in the severe cold of December and January,” he says.

“I want to represent Pakistan, I want laurels for this nation, and am striving for sponsors, asking if there is any.

“I was invited for kickboxing championship held in Spain in July last year, but I could not participate in the event as neither the sports board nor other departments agreed to sponsor me,” Shahid says.

He has skipped many other such events due to lack of finances.

Recalling his Iran visits, Tariq says he traveled to Iran to participate in both sports events by road as he was short of finances for air travel. It took him seven days to reach the destination, he adds.

That by-road travel was sponsored by some cellular company but no one is interested now as the game is not recognised by the government.

“Shahid was crazy about his game, but he was cognizant of his parents’ financial limits,” says Shahid’s mother Nasreen Tariq, adding that “he never insisted for sports kit and quality diet. Sometimes he didn’t even have a meal after school and rushed to the academy for practice,” the proud mother adds.

Shahid was eight years old when he migrated to Islamabad with his father, who was working in a school as a grade-4 (peon) employee and was living in a small rented room in a slum area of Islamabad.

“I was crazy about boxing. I pressed my father to get me enrolled in a nearby facility. Initially, my father was reluctant as he didn’t have finances, but on my insistence, he agreed,” Shahid says.

“My father (late) didn’t have money to purchase uniform and shoes so I used to practise in normal clothes and run barefoot,” Shahid recalls.

He has won a total of seven medals for the country, including a gold medal. At national level events, he participated in kickboxing cup held in Rawalpindi in 2002 and bagged bronze medal. At Third All Pakistan Kickboxing Championship held in Peshawar in 2004, he won silver medal.

Neither the government nor any sports board representative sent even an encouraging message to him, he said.

He has appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan, philanthropists and private companies to sponsor his participation in international events.

Shahid is working as an instructor in a gym in DHA Rawalpindi. He also provides freelance fitness coaching to meet his financial needs.

It is pertinent to mention here that kicking boxing is an internationally recognized sport and the game has been gaining popularity worldwide.

Shahid dreams to establish a coaching academy where he can train children, but again lack of finances is a major hurdle.

His coach and mentor Muhammad Zahid says Shahid has enough talent to win medals for the country in international events, if he gets sponsors.

Pakistan Kickboxing Federation is registered with the international kickboxing body and receives invitations, but they don’t have finances to meet travelling and other expenses.

Talking about his efforts to get registered his federation with the PSB, Zahid says he made efforts in 2008 and 2009 to get registered, but his applications were not accepted because he had not agreed to paying them (the officials) from the annual grant. There is a very minor-level sport “Banta” registered with the sports board but not kickboxing, which has brought many international medals for the country, the coach adds.

“It is a common practice worldwide that academies register themselves initially at city, distract, national and then international level but in Pakistan the system is totally opposite. We are registered with the international federation but in Pakistan we are neither registered nor eligible for financial grants for international events,” the coach says.

“We had hoped that Prime Minister Imran Khan will improve the sports board structure, but unfortunately there is no change.

“We refused many international offers for playing on their behalf because we want to play for the country,” Zahid said.

National Sports Board Director Muhammad Azam Dar, when asked about this matter, said the Board has a structure with certain rules and regulations and in the prevailing structure, there is no space for such individuals, no matter how outstanding they may be.

Talking about why kickboxing could not get registered with the sports board, he said the board has a set mechanism and everybody has to follow that.

First there should be a network of kickboxing bodies elected through proper election procedure as the board doesn’t accept application of an individual federation, he said.

He said the board plays the role of a facilitator to those bodies that are registered with it.

The writer is an investigative journalist based in Islamabad. She tweets @shizrehman