Factors affecting sports culture

Though all the books of English and Urdu composition are replete with essays on the importance of sports in the lives of individuals and nations, our country in its age of 76 years has won only ten medals in its Olympic Games. Out them, eight medals have been won by our hockey team - even though hockey being our national game deserves more than that.

Perhaps, the world has seen the climax of our national game as this is the third time that Pakistan could not qualify for the Olympics. It doesn't mean that the country has stopped producing talent for the national game. Many hockey players play international leagues.

Another regrettable thing is that the squad for 2024 Paris Olympics consists of only seven players out of a population of 24.5 crore. We are so hypnotised by the media coverage and corporate sponsorship of cricket that we don't even know the names of our Olympics participants and their games. Cricket too has become a white elephant as per our performance at international events.

Strong economy does have a boosting impact on developing a sports culture in a country. At the Tokyo Olympics, the top 10 countries in the medals tally won 54% of all the medals and eight of them are high-income countries. But as we are in a comparison mode, many economically weaker nations like Kenya and Ethiopia make their mark at the medals table. Kenya's 19th ranking at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with 10 medals - four gold, four silver and two bronze - underscores the promotion of sports at the grassroots level.

To point out the religio-cultural factors delimiting sports in the subcontinent, the sports data single out Bangladesh as the most populous country (above 17 crore) at Olympics to never win an Olympic medal. Similarly, India's performance at Olympics vis-a-vis its mammoth population also highlights the general disregard for sports in the subcontinent.

In our country, horses-for-courses paradigm is not followed at departmental or ministry level. Pakistan Olympics Association (POA) comprises 34 sports federations. The intriguing thing is that the chairmen of 15 federations hail from the armed forces. A retired general helmed POA from March 2004 to January 2024 and Pakistan didn't win a single medal during these 20 years.

Many talented players could not qualify for the Paris Olympics for the paucity of funds and unavailability of facilities. One such player is Inam Butt - the only Pakistani professional wrestler winning gold medals at Commonwealth Games 2010 and South Asian Games 2016 - who didn't qualify for Paris Olympics. In his interview at BBC's Sairbeen, he lamented Pakistan had no wrestling academy despite having a glorious past of legendary wrestlers. Sprinter Faiqa Riaz and lawn tennis player Ushna Sohail also expressed national apathy meted out to them and their sports.

Sports analysts point out that after the 18th constitutional amendment, sports is a devolved subject. The amendment, though good for democracy, has given misdirection to funds as the provinces utilise these funds as per their own needs. They aver that the devolution has thwarted a holistic sports culture as it has caused the seepage and leakage of focus and funds along the multiple channels travelling from federal to provincial and to departmental levels. Moreover, the allocation of Rs33.7 billion in the national budget for sports - paltry 0.3% of the total national budget - belies our claims of concern for sports and athletes.

Correlating both population and economy with sports, Michael Klein, a professor of international economics, finds that a country with a 10% higher income per capita than another country is estimated to win 6.9% more medals (holding constant the effect of population) while a country with a 10% higher population than another country is estimated to win 3.6% more medals (holding constant the effect of income per capita).

PS: Congratulations to Arshad Nadeem on winning the Olympic gold medal, Pakistan's first ever in athletics. The country's drought for gold ends after 40 years.