Don't blame our athletes

There is a lot of hue and cry in Pakistan after their swimming duo of Ahmed Durrani and Jehanara Nabi crashed out of the Olympic Games in Paris on Sunday.

Netizens are also taking aim at shooters Gulfam Joseph and Kishmala Talat after both of them made unimpressive starts at Paris 24.

But they are all barking up the wrong tree.

Neither the two swimmers or the shooters went to Paris with any hopes of even reaching anywhere near the medals round. Yes, that’s true.

The young Jehanara and Ahmed were given the right to feature in the Olympics after being selected by the Olympic authorities for wildcard entries. Such wildcard entries are given to under-developed countries with six or less athletes qualifying directly for the Olympics. Pakistan had just four, who qualified directly for Paris 24. So IOC gave away a few wildcard entries, two of which went to Jehanara and Ahmed.

What happened in Paris wasn’t unexpected. Ahmed finished last in the qualifying heats in the men’s 200m freestyles event with a time of 1 minute and 58.67 seconds. He must have been disappointed for failing to maintain his personal best timing, which is 1 minute 55 seconds.

Jehanara finished 26th out of 30 swimmers in the 200-meter freestyle event.

Neither Ahmed nor Jehanara received any worthwhile training or exposure. So it’s unfair to expect any glorious results from them in an event the Olympic Games. For them, just being part of the spectacle is a career-defining opportunity.

The blame should go to the country's sports authorities who have failed in ensuring quality training facilities for even their top-notch athletes.