Olympian Mehboob Ali, sprinter Samiullah and 110metre hurdler Mohammad Naeem tested positive during the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal last year. All the three were medallists.

I will discuss in details in another article in the future how it all happened but here I want to talk about the future of javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem, who has qualified for Tokyo Olympics, in case NOC and AFP don’t restore working relationship. The timing of the decision to suspend AFP is not appropriate. It will hurt the cause of Arshad. He may face numerous issues in his preparation for the world’s most prestigious sporting spectacle and then during competition in Tokyo. I have an in-depth knowledge of what happened in the past in the case of judoka Shah Hussain when the NOC severed ties with Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) which is still affiliated with the International Judo Federation (IJF). Still administering judo affairs is a big issue and it always will be a big issue when NOC does not own a federation.

Similar is the case of Pakistan Cycling Federation (PCF). The PCF is recognised by the world cycling governing body (UCI) but it is not owned by the POA. For years, the judo and cycling federations have been facing issues. And it seems that AFP has joined that group as it has been suspended now.

I don’t think AFP will be able to fulfil the demands of the POA probe committee. Some of these are very tough. Those who know sports deeply will pick my point.

It is pertinent to mention here that cycling, judo and athletics are those federations which supported the parallel POA constituted a few years ago through outright support of the then Pakistan government. It created the biggest sports crisis in the history of Pakistan.

The conflict ended when Riaz Hussain Pirzada was the IPC minister. The state not only restored its working relationship with the POA affiliated with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) but it also signed a pact with the IOC that only those federations would be recognised which were affiliated with international federations.

The AFP was on cloud nine when Arshad qualified for the Tokyo Olympics during the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal last year. But a few months later, the AFP crumbled when three athletes failed dope tests and were banned and stripped of their medals.

It is the job of the AFP and the POA to end the deadlock. If they don’t do it soon, Arshad’s preparation will suffer. Although POA will ensure his participation in Olympics without involving the AFP administration, such matters have several shortcomings and affect athletes’ preparation and performance.

A federation knows better how to prepare an athlete and which coach should accompany the athlete. The top officials of the federation have to be present there to ensure their athlete does not face any issue during such a big event. There are several technical issues which may hurt Arshad’s Olympics medal cause if AFP and POA don’t resolve the matter.

Arshad is in the Olympics medal bloc and we have a rare opportunity to create history in athletics in Olympics. But it seems that we are throwing away such a huge chance.

Having covered sports religiously for the last 20 years, I know who is an angel and who is not in the sports fraternity of Pakistan. Let’s do away all our enmity, join hands, live like a sporting fraternity and start thinking to develop our sports. Pakistan is not China or the US. Here issues are manifold. Federations don’t have money to even conduct dope tests at regular intervals. National Anti-Doping Organistiondoesn’t have money to conduct random tests. Our top federations have empty kitties and are begging. Ask top federations how they manage affairs when the government doesn’t take interest in funding them. We should understand the situation.

Even for the South Asian Games held in Nepal last year no camp had been set up. National coaches did not spend time with their athletes in the camp. They only supervised athletes, prepared by the departments for months for National Games, during South Asian Games. Why don’t we understand such issues? We lack sports administration insight. I always say that young people should be given top seats in all the major sports governing bodies of the country to bring a sea change in the whole culture. If we cannot do this we all should reform ourselves and take a fresh start towards sports development.

73.alam@gmail.com