Women Swimming Championship: Participants withdrew after men lounged around pool

Women’s swimming association lodges protest with Pakistan Swimming Association.

ISLAMABAD:

Men roamed about the swimming pool in Jinnah Sports Complex as the swimmers looked in horror; some of them refused to participate in the 12th National Women Swimming Championship a day before it was scheduled.

Parveen Qadir Agha, former senator and President Islamabad Women Swimming Association (IWSA), while talking to The Express Tribune expressed her dissatisfaction with the callousness of the organisers. She said it was highly discouraging for the female participants to swim there in the presence of men.

“When we tried to stop them from entering the area, some of them claimed to be coaches or guardians of the swimmers,” said Agha. She added according to the rules, men are not allowed near the pool area when women are swimming there. “Though we registered our protest with the organisers, they said that it happens around the world so there is no harm in it,” the former senator said.

She recently wrote a letter to the Pakistan Swimming Federation on the behalf of IWSA expressing their concern about the presence of men during the events at the 12th National Women Swimming Championship 2011 that concluded recently at Jinnah Sports Complex. The letter has been sent to the office bearers of Pakistan Women’s Swimming Association Karachi, Provincial Women Swimming Association, Director General Pakistan Sports Board and affiliated units of all members of IWSA.

She added before this a verbal protest was lodged with the Pakistan Swimming Federation (PSF) Secretary Major (retd) Majid Waseem secretary who defended the presence of men by saying that this was part of the federation policy for the last five years.

Agha said PSF should have arranged female coaches and technical staff for the event.

Zarnab Aurakzai, 21, who had come from UK to participate in the championship, said she was “shocked” to see men from the administration and military near the pool when she went to rehearse on Saturday, a day before the event.

She said, “I asked them to leave the area as they were not allowed when females were in the swimming pool, but they refused to get out. Then I approached the organisers, who said it is usually the case here. After hearing all this, I refused to participate,” she said.

Waseem told The Express Tribune that “only technicians, a referee and Kiran Khan’s father, who is her coach, were there” during the event. He said that there isn’t a single woman in Pakistan qualified to control the electronic system. He added they brought the technicians in after consultation with the team heads and other related persons.

Besides, he said, across the world there is no rule where coaches are barred from attending the sporting events their players are participating in.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2011.