I must give full credit to the national athletes who despite much less preparation than their opponents did well in the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal. The Games, featuring 2715 athletes from seven nations, concluded on Tuesday with another superb performance from India who topped the medals table with a whopping 312 medals, which included 174 gold, 93 silvers and 45 bronze.

Nepal, who always has been tough opposition when at home, pulled off a historic performance, finishing as the runners-up with 206 medals, which included 51 gold, 60 silver and 95 bronze.

Sri Lanka, whose 14 athletes had been hospitalised in Kathmandu due to dengue fever, failed to retain their second spot, finishing third with 251 medals (40-83-128). And then came Pakistan at the fourth spot with 32 gold, 41 silvers and 59 bronze.

In the previous SAG held in India in 2016, Pakistan had finished third with 12 gold medals. Some people say that referees favoured Nepal and that is why the hosts won so many medals. But such a fine performance is not possible through cheating. Extensive training, at home and abroad, good diet and home conditions helped Nepal to engineer the best-ever performance in the SAG history.

India could have earned more medals had they featured in all disciplines. In some events, India did not field their first-choice players as they are now thinking beyond South Asian Games.

Sri Lanka also had prepared well and although Nepal prevented them from retaining the second spot, they won 40 gold medals which was not a bad performance.

Pakistan did well as so many gold medals had not been expected. Undoubtedly, National Games’ preparation helped national athletes. And the credit goes to departments and other units which organised adequate training to prepare the athletes for National Games.

But as there was very small gap between National Games and SAG, Pakistan suffered in some team events. Despite the superb performance against India during the last one year, Pakistan lost to the arch-rivals in the men’s volleyball final.

National kabaddi team finished with a bronze. Besides losing to India, the brigade also faced an upset defeat at the hands of little known Sri Lanka.

In men’s handball, Pakistan showed class, beating India in the final to reclaim gold.

Pakistan featured in 18 disciplines. Out of 32 gold medals, Pakistan won 14 only in martial arts: karate (6), wushu (3), taekwondo (3) and judo (2).

India’s absence also benefitted Pakistan in karate in which besides securing six gold Pakistan claimed eight silver and five bronze medals.

In athletics, the country claimed five gold medals. Olympians Mehboob Ali and Najma Parveen were among the gold medallists in athletics. But the gem of the whole Games was the stunning show from javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem who blasted his way into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when he smashed the South Asian Games record of 82.23m set by India’s Neeraj Chopra at the 2016 SAG in India, by managing an 86.29m throw. Arshad became a rare Pakistani athlete who qualified for the world’s most prestigious extravaganza directly.

The state should not only give Arshad extra prize money for motivation but should also financially support him so that he could prepare well for Olympics. He is a rare talent and can win a medal in Tokyo if he is trained and fed rightly and looked after well. He won bronze in last year’s Asian Games but nobody thought that the young boy could achieve such wonders. After the Asian Games he had told me that he would not only qualify for Olympics but would also clinch a medal there. With no special training, he stunned everyone with a solid throw in Nepal. Hardly three weeks before his SAG journey, he had bettered his national record with an 83.65m throw at National Games in Peshawar.

As usual, Pakistan did well in weight-lifting, winning five gold medals. Three gold medals were won in wrestling, and two each in shooting and squash — Tayyab Aslam claimed two gold medals, one in individual and one in squash team event.

In swimming, Pakistan’s performance was the worst as only one silver and two bronze were won although this discipline offers the highest number of medals.

Pakistan Swimming Federation (PSF) should be made accountable for the below-par performance. The PSF chief Major Majid Waseem does not even pick calls of journalists. His brigade’s showing in Nepal makes it clear that he does not work. As elections of PSF are ahead it is hoped that he will be replaced by a sincere and hard-working president.

He has almost completed his two tenures as PSF chief, so he will try to amend the constitution to create a post of chairman to accommodate himself. In my opinion it would be a highly inappropriate decision if the house endorsed such a change.

We did not get any medal in table tennis but the youngsters must have learnt from the exposure.

Three bronze in badminton are also unacceptable. We have good talent but Pakistan Badminton Federation (PBF) is in the hands of a former international shuttler who seems to have little time and attention for the sport. He should be asked for his squad’s below-par showing in Nepal.

In boxing, too, Pakistan had the worst result, claiming only three silver and three bronze medals in men’s boxing. It is depressing that in boxing we are unable now to win a gold even at the South Asian level. Once Pakistan was considered a strong force of boxing in Asia and in South Asian Games we used to win the majority of golds. But over the years negligence on the part of the authorities destroyed the game.

Khalid Mehmood, who is the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) president, must rise and start working to revive the sport.

The biggest issue in Pakistan is that the state and Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) are not on the same page. The IPC Ministry left no stone unturned in deteriorating its working relationship with the NOC Pakistan at a time when our athletes were fighting for medals in Nepal. Every effort was made to defame the NOC even on the National Assembly floor. Sports cannot be run like this. Strong connection among NOC, state and federations is indispensable. South Asian Games are the lowest in standard in the world. We should think beyond these games. If we keep our goals high and prepare our athletes for them then low targets will automatically be achieved. We should salute our athletes who did not let us down in Nepal despite insufficient training. In India, athletes always remain in camps. Unless we adopt a professional approach our sports will suffer. The government should immediately give cash prizes to the medallists of the SAG and should not make them wait.

There should be technocrats at the top seats of the IPC sports wing as it is a specialised field and bureaucrats cannot handle it. We don’t even have a skilled Director General for the PSB.

The next SAG will be held in Pakistan in 2021. Let’s plan for that. But for successful holding of the edition NOC and state will need to be on the same page.

73.alam@gmail.com