LAHORE: The country’s Canada-based seasoned karateka and former Asian champion Saadi Abbas on Sunday described Pakistan’s sports situation as very precarious and urged the government to trust national sports federations and give them funds regularly with due accountability so that sports could be promoted in the country.
“What I see is that government bodies feel that all national federations are corrupt or some are corrupt and some are not and if we give them funds they will devour them,” Saadi told ‘The News’ in a candid interview.
“If you are to run the country’s sports you will have to back federations and you will have to fund federations as they know how to run federations. I prepared a four-year plan and handed that over to former IPC Minister Dr Fehmida Mirza. I suggested that the state should put federations in various categories and give them budget accordingly for four years consistently and set targets for them. I reiterate that federations know how to form a team and how to handle and groom it. They have international connections,” said Saadi, also a two-time Commonwealth Championship gold medallist.
“Pakistan’s sports situation has been very painful for me for the last 14 years. They have the money, they have the budget and sometimes budget is saved and surrendered to the finance division as it happened several times and also around the Tokyo Olympics,” Saadi said.
“My question is why athletes are treated so badly. Sports sector is not our priority. We don’t want to boost our country’s soft image. Had we that pain in our heart we would have taken every step to make our athletes the country’s ambassadors and ensure their participation in every international event,” Saadi said. “Look, Ukraine is in a state of war but there is no Ukrainian athlete who is missing any tournament in international circuit. They go to every event, compete there and also record their protest. They hold their training camps in Europe mostly,” said Saadi, also a US Open champion.
“They allocate huge money for other purposes but not even Rs2 million for an athlete development,” he said. “And because of this precarious situation realistic athletes seek opportunities offshore in order to use their skills. Athletes want respect,” Saadi said.
“Look, Arshad Nadeem is a great prospect for the Paris Olympics but where is he is and what does he do after he skipped Asian Games due to an injury? What is the plan for him? Nobody knows,” Saadi pointed out.
Alam Zeb Safi Alam Zeb Safi is a senior reporter for The News
