Pakistan may not send athletes to Delhi

LAHORE: Pakistan look set to omit track and field from the list of sporting disciplines it will be represented in, at the Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi as the top sprinters in the country are not competitive enough to participate in the event.

Two leading athletes of the country, Sadaf Siddiqui and Javeria Hasan, failed a doping test while South Asia’s fastest woman Nasim Hameed will also be missing due to personal reasons.

Following the stars absence, the Athletic Federation of Pakistan (AFP) is running out of competitive backup for the event that starts on October 3.

“The AFP is still optimistic about sending out its best athletes despite the trio’s omission,” AFP Secretary Khalid Mehmood told The Express Tribune. “The federation has organised a national championship starting from July 6 in a bid to find the best athletes.”

Even though Pakistan has never won a single medal in the Olympics, it remains a mediocre force in the Asian Games, the SAF Games and the Commonwealth Games as several athletes from the country have won medals and held records for many years in these prestigious competitions.

Of late, however, the federation has been struggling to find competitive athletes to represent Pakistan at the highest level.

For this year’s Commonwealth Games, there exist a total of 17 event categories where Pakistan are due to compete in eight including shooting, boxing, wrestling, tennis, squash, hockey, weight-lifting and badminton.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2010.