Sports festivals in Pakistan: A costly affair with little or no return

The extravagant and unbridled spending on various sports festivals across the country has yielded little to no tangible benefits, leaving the nation with minimal return on investment.

Pakistan lacks the capacity to go for hosting major international events due to absence of infrastructure or sub-standard infrastructure which does not fulfil the international requirements.

The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has been conducting Quaid-e-Azam Games for the last few years which is just a wastage of time and money. Constitutionally holding such events is not the domain of the PSB. Khelta Punjab Games is also a big negative as it also has been yielding no results.

A few years ago, Punjab Sports Festival used to be conducted when Shehbaz Sharif was the Punjab Chief Minister. Punjab government used to spend millions of rupees on those festivals but they had no output. Hunting talent is not the job of any state body but it is the domain of the associations and national sports federations. And state, both at the central and provincial level, needs to provide international standard infrastructure and fund the athletes’ development process.

National athletes pass through tribulations during their training for international events. They train at such indoor halls which lack air-conditioners which are important to keep the environment at the desired temperature both in summer and winter.

Lack of facilities

There is no international standard multipurpose hall in Pakistan except the Liaquat Gymnasium Islamabad which also lacks international standard facilities. For the last few years its cooling system has not been working. Various federations, especially volleyball federation, found it difficult to manage international events and bilateral series at the Liaquat Gymnasium in summer.

In summer, mostly major international events are held across the globe. Having no proper infrastructure, national athletes suffer massively in their preparation.

State needs to build international standard infrastructure also in those areas which offer better weather in summer so that camps could be held there.

White elephant

Billions of rupees have been spent on the Narowal Sports Complex but it is of no use. It's like a white elephant. The country’s two major cities Karachi and Lahore lack top-class infrastructure where international events could be held.

Islamabad Sports Complex is not ideal for international events as its difficult for the fans to make it to the venue. Without fans’ engagement no sport can flourish.

With every facility for competitive events there should be training zones for participating teams as well which is an international requirement.

The existing sports infrastructure does not offer this added facility which is direly needed to follow in future infrastructure development.

Ask Pakistan Handball Federation’s (PHF) President and Asian Handball Federation’s (AHF) Secretary General Mohammad Shafiq and he will tell you how embarrassed he feels that being AHF Secretary General he could not hold any Asian Championship in Pakistan.

“I feel embarrassed that being AHF Secretary General we cannot hold Asian Championship in Pakistan and this is because of infrastructure issue,” Shafiq told Nukta in an interview.

“Honestly speaking we even don’t have infrastructure for the South Asian Games. Whatever infrastructure we have it does not fulfil the requirement for hosting Asian Championship,” he said.

“We don’t have any air-conditioned hall with all the rest of required facilities which could be utilized for the purpose,” Shafiq told Nukta in an interview.

“There should be two halls as one will be used for practice. We don’t have even terra-flex flooring in Pakistan,” he said.

Asked if flooring is provided then Liaquat Gymnasium Islamabad can be utilized for international handball events, Shafiq said that its length is not sufficient.

“Liaquat Gymnasium was built in 1985. At that time handball rules were a bit flexible. Its court is 38 meter in length but now the requirement is that its length should be 40 meters and its width should be 20 meters. Its width is sufficient but its length is not okay. But still we can hold event here and we have already held some events at the same venue,” he said.

“If terra-flex handball flooring is laid on it then it may host events in 21 disciplines,” Shafiq said.

“The price of the quality flooring is 72,000 US dollars,” he said.

He said that halls should be built in major cities including Karachi and Lahore.

“In Faisalabad Higher Education Commission (HEC) is establishing an academy where hall has been built and it has a massive contribution from the Agriculture University Faisalabad and its Chancellor Iqrar Ahmed Khan. It has been built and its finishing will also be made soon,” Shafiq said.

“Flooring can be laid there. I am trying to manage as South Asian Games handball event also has to be conducted in Faisalabad. Nepal hosted the previous South Asian Games and they also have flooring for handball. They have flooring in two to three halls and we have no such flooring in the entire country,” he lamented.

He said that already federation is utilizing the hall of the Government College University Faisalabad which also last year hosted the IHF Women, Youth and Junior Handball Trophy successfully.

He agreed that holding the international events in Pakistan will help in the development of indoor handball in the country.

Shafiq said that there is no hall in Peshawar but there is a hall in Mardan.

“The hall in Mardan is good but finding a good hotel is difficult there,” he said.

Shafiq said that state also charges sports items which are imported.

“We get donation from abroad but state charges us for that. We have even approached FBR and Finance Department with the hope that we would get exemption on sports goods import but we were left frustrated,” he said.

“And because of that we don’t get donation from abroad as bringing that goods will cost us even more than their actual price because of the tax which state gets from us,” Shafiq revealed.