Rs 90m wasted as Pakistan’s team fails at South Asian Junior Athletics

ISLAMABAD: Over Rs 90 million, the Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) has doled out to the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) during the last two years to set the system on sound footing has gone to waste as the country’s junior team returns empty-handed even from the Junior South Asian Meet held in New Delhi.

Since the talented Arshad Nadeem made the country/Asia proud, expectations increased altogether. The AFP however has nothing to show when it comes to performance at the junior level. Out of 90 medals won and competed in the SA Asian Junior Athletics, Pakistan has failed to win a single medal not even a bronze. The other main reason besides the incompetence of the AFP is said to be the absence of a qualified coach from the accompanied 12-member team.

India with 48 medals won the Championship. The countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Maldives won medals-what missing however was, a medal for Pakistan.

Surprisingly, the video message coming out of New Delhi from one of the coaches Iqbal Akhtar was of no remorse over the poor show.

“I think performance is good, we have gained the required exposure,” he said.

In the company of just a few countries that too like Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Maldives, Arshad Nadeem’s Pakistan failed to make its mark even at the South Asian Junior Athletics

India dominated the championship, claiming 48 medals, including 21 gold, 22 silver, and 5 bronze. Sri Lanka followed in second place with 9 gold, 9 silver, and 17 bronze medals. Bangladesh secured third place with three bronze medals, while Maldives and Nepal earned 2 and 1 medals, respectively. Unfortunately, Pakistan’s athletes were unable to make their mark on the podium.

Not finding even a single gold or even a bronze should come as a rude awakening call for the AFP that has done no grassroots improvement/working to produce youngsters despite having full financial resources at their disposal.

It is also worth mentioning here that the Pakistan Sports Board allocated a significant budget of over Rs. 90 million to the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) during the past two years to prepare junior teams and to work at the grassroots level. Yet nothing had been done.

Every other federation whether boxing, wrestling, judo, or karate returns home with a bag full of medals at the SA level, not bringing a single medal by AFP is food for thought for the Ministry of IPC and PSB as they have preferred the athletics federation over all others in the recent past.

Whether the PSB or the IPC Ministry will question the AFP on the glaring failure will remain to be seen.