‘SAG 2023 a golden chance to revive sports in Pakistan’

KARACHI: Former Pakistan athlete and coach Muhammad Talib has said that South Asian Games 2023 in Pakistan should be taken as a game changer as the country is coming out of international sports isolation.

Talking to ‘The News’, he said that for the last couple of years sports competitions were being organised in Pakistan and SAG 2023 would be its pinnacle. “Pakistan should try its best to win maximum medals so that our lost pride in world sports could be regained,” he added.

More than 5000 sportsmen and sportswomen from seven nations will arrive in Pakistan to compete in SAG 2023.

He said that Pakistanis are a great sports nation. “We dominated various sports globally, continentally, and regionally. We should not lose this opportunity to restore our sports pride and status in the world. We should develop and improve our sports infrastructure and give training and coaching to our athletes both boys and girls in those disciplines in which we have good past record,” he added.

He appealed to PM Imran Khan and sports authorities to grab this opportunity to revive the glorious past of Pakistan in world of sports. “We are legging behind other nations in sports such as hockey, squash, boxing, rowing and table tennis. Small nations have improved their sports standard due to their passion and good training and coaching and are winning medals in big events like Olympics, Asian Games, and world championships,” said Talib, who has been running Athletics Fitness School (AFS), established 40 years ago, and has produced hundreds of athletes for various disciplines.

“Good performance in these games would lift Pakistan once again in the world sports arena. Then we can hope that our athletes will also perform well in Islamic Solidarity Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Olympics and World championships,” he said.

He said only one year was left before the games but still a comprehensive plan could be made to take advantage of being the hosts. “Athletics, hockey, volleyball, table tennis, wrestling, swimming, kabbadi, snooker, rifle shooting, rowing, yachting, boxing, karate and judo are disciplines in which we used to win medals and we can start doing well again in them because of home ground and home crowed advantages,” he said.

“In the presence of home crowed athletes play with extraordinary motivation to show their skill in front of their friends, relatives, and countrymen. The authorities should cash in on this great opportunity. We must provide our athletes all possible traning, coaching, diet and mental relief to make them successful,” Talib said.