The Cricket World Cup has started and the Asian Games have come to an end. In countries where cricket is not the number one sport, the performance of their players in the Asian Games must have been the focus of their media attention.
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But if it comes to Pakistan, there has not been any remarkable performance by its players that would make the screens of our TV channels red and the breaking news talk about a great performance.
I often hear two things, the first is that no one talks about sports other than cricket in Pakistan, the media also does not give importance to sports other than cricket. The answer is simple that the same media has given prominence to great performances in sports other than cricket.
The prime example of this is Arshad Nadeem and Noah Dastgir Butt, when they won gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, no media platform was left behind in highlighting their outstanding performance.
Similarly, on the occasion of Tokyo Olympics, Arshad Nadeem and Talha Taleb’s excellent performance was in the headlines, but if the hockey team will suffer a ten-goal defeat by India or our players will be busy taking selfies after losing in the first round. will come and their faces will have smiles instead of sadness and regret, so in such a case, will the media say, wow, what a wonderful performance?
It is not possible to compare cricket with other sports because the game of cricket itself stands on its own feet. He doesn’t need financial help from any government that comes to power in the country, he takes his own expenses, but seeing the financial condition of cricket, politicians’ mouths water and they miss any opportunity to take over the reins of cricket. Don’t let go.
Another thing which is not only surprising but funny is that whether it is the Asian Games or the South Asian Games, Pakistani athletes who participate in these games proudly say that we went there and competed. He has improved his personal record while participating and is then discussed on social media.
On social media, I saw several videos and photos of our female and male players who were defeated in the first round smiling rather than feeling embarrassed, writing ‘Hangzhou, thank you for hosting.’
Members of the Pakistani delegation during the opening ceremony of the Asian Games on September 23, 2023 (Ashara S Kodikara/AFP)
Here I am reminded of the great figure of international boxing, Professor Anwar Chaudhary, who used to say the same thing that Asian Games and South Asian Games are the place to make national records or to improve these records. Another point of Prof. Anwar Chaudhry’s heart felt that the thought of our athletes participating in these games is to lose to anyone but not to India. It means win or not win medal not lose to India.
In the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou, Pakistan participated in 24 sports for which 190 athletes were sent along with 72 officials.
Till date it has not been conscientiously thought and practiced to participate only in sports in which good performance is expected. Our sports masters have always focused on numbers rather than quality of play and that is why performance in many sports is such that they cannot even be mentioned out of shame.
If we look at the performance of Pakistani athletes in these Asian Games, it is not much different from the Asian Games held in Indonesia in 2018. In the previous Asian Games, Pakistan won only four bronze medals while 256 athletes participated in these games.
This time, Pakistan’s total haul in the Asian Games is just one silver and two bronze medals. He won the silver medal in the men’s team event in squash. Noor Zaman came very close to victory in the decider against India and came away with it. Pakistan won one bronze medal in 10m fire pistol in the form of Kashmala Talat while the other bronze medal was won by Kabaddi team. Thus, Pakistan has been ranked 30th in the medal table of 45 countries.
It was unfortunate for Pakistan that Arshad Nadeem could not participate in the javelin throw event due to unfitness. He had won a bronze medal in the last Asian Games but this time he was favorite for the gold medal. Arshad Nadeem will have to pay full attention to his treatment, Pakistan Athletics Federation will also have to take special care of this. In the recent past, we have seen that he has been caught between the bitter relationship of the two bigwigs of Pakistan Olympic Association and Pakistan Athletics, who praised one and resented the other.
Pakistan’s last gold medal in the Asian Games was won by the women’s cricket team in 2014, but this time the performance of the women’s team was also very disappointing.
A more disappointing performance was shown by the men’s cricket team, although there were seven players in this team who had international cricket experience and they had played a total of one-day internationals and T20I matches, but this team was defeated by Afghanistan and Bangladesh. She also lost to the country.
Apart from cricket, Pakistan’s last gold medals were in men’s hockey and men’s squash at the 2010 Asian Games, but this time the Pakistani team’s performance in hockey was very disappointing and they finished fifth, the last time they won a bronze medal. It was an even better performance. The most important aspect of this disappointing performance of the Pakistani hockey team is that they suffered their worst ever defeat against India by 10 goals to two.
In the Asian Games, only the Indian team can be said to be ranked number three in the world, while Japan, who beat Pakistan three to two, is ranked 15th in the world, while Pakistan is ranked 16th, meaning both There was not much difference but still Pakistan came fifth and Japan played India in the final.
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If we also look at the performance of individual competitions, there is no such performance in any of them that there is any justification for these players to participate in the Asian Games, rather it is a matter of participation for participation.
If Aqeel Khan and Easam-ul-Haq Qureshi are playing tennis at the age of 43-43, then I see the fault not of them but of the Pakistan Tennis Federation for not yet finding a young talent that they trust. can send to the Asian Games with How long will the federation work with Aqeel Khan and Easam-ul-Haq?
Boxing was a sport in which Pakistan has won a total of six gold medals in the past but now these medals have also disappeared with time.
The Pakistan Sports Board, which is responsible for the training and coaching of the players, is actually the biggest obstacle in the development of this sport because this body is subordinate to the different ministers formed in each cycle of the inter-provincial communication ministry of the political governments.
The Director General of the Sports Board also changes every term of government. Whichever government comes, it brings the Director General of its choice.
The Pakistan Olympic Association defends itself by saying that the training and coaching of the players has nothing to do with it. She is only dependent on the government grant but does not make any effort on her own to improve her financial conditions and find sponsors herself.
Note: This article is based on the personal opinion of the columnist, Independent Urdu does not necessarily agree with it.
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