Pakistan is a large country with a population of about 240 million. Its national sport is hockey and in the past the country has achieved great success in that sport. In squash, Pakistan has ruled over the world, while in Kabaddi, it has a glorious history. But today, the whole focus is on cricket.
On the other hand, our international boxer Muhammad Waseem recently defeated Colombian boxer Robert Barrera to qualify for the WBC World title and a few days before that a young kickboxer, who sells tea, won a bronze medal in Moscow.
Pakistani athletes Talha Talib and Arshad Nadeem performed brilliantly in the Olympics held in Japan a few months ago. At the same time, we also saw that Shahzeb Khan, a mixed martial arts player from Karachi, won a gold medal.
Thus, if other sports are considered whether it is football, tennis, jujitsu or badminton, taekwondo or bodybuilding, athletes from Pakistan have achieved great success in every sport but country’s Sports Board has failed to maintain the success. One of the main reasons is that the players are not financially stable and the board does not pay much attention to them.
Players individually participate in competitions and somehow win titles but the equipment required to maintain this victory requires funds which out Sports Board has but due to its indifference or negligence a player who wins a title gets lost in the darkness of obscurity instead of advancing.
Nisar Ahmed, a young man who recently won a bronze medal in Moscow, used to make parathas at a tea shop in Karachi. Luckily, after his voice reached out on social media, citizens helped him, which enabled him to raise the Pakistani flag in Russia. If the board had accepted him or been involved in his preparation, the young man might have won a gold medal instead of a bronze.
Even after Nisar Ahmed’s name was echoed on social media, private companies offered help, but the Sports Board was still silent, which raises the question of whether every athlete in the world should ask for donations from the public for participating in international competitions.
A similar situation happened with Shahzeb Khan, a young man from Karachi who won a gold medal in mixed martial arts. He also participated in the competitions in Kazakhstan by raising money with the help of himself, coaches and teacher Imran Qasim Khan and hoisted the green crescent flag at the highest place.
At the same time we have seen that some Pakistani athletes, who are out of the country and have participated in championships in their respected sports, want to help Pakistani athletes who are facing financial difficulties.
These things indicate that by bringing together talented players, financiers, sponsors and private companies in the country, significant achievements can be made in many sports in Pakistan besides cricket. The world knows us only because of cricket but we don’t have any special recognition in other sports.
