Focus on officials for the time being

Athletics federation to train technical staff.

KARACHI: Following in the footsteps of cricket and squash, the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) has decided to focus on its technical officials and coaching staff and improve their skills in order to enable them to perform duties at mega events.

While highlighting grey areas in the development of athletics in the country, AFP President Akram Sahi said that it was time for the technical staff to move up a notch and officiate at international events.

“We’ll work on training our officials so that they can officiate in top tournaments of the world,” Sahi told The Express Tribune. “To have an official from Pakistan in international events will be like an honour just like it is with athletes’ participation at SAF games, Asian Games or the Olympics. Aleem Dar [cricket umpire] has been a source of inspiration and set a great example that it’s not just the players who can bring laurels to the country.”



Sahi added that an election will also take place within the technical staff, to finalise a member who will supervise proceedings.

“The best will be asked to complete necessary courses so that they can qualify as international officials. Though it won’t be an easy process but we’re determined to work on this department as well.”

Sahi also stressed that an improvement was needed in the athletes’ performance as well. Pointing out to the recently-held National Athletics Championship where only one record was broken, Sahi said the players sometimes held themselves back.

“Obviously we all want to raise the bar but individuals often compromise on their capacity to do well in a certain event. This is because they have to represent their teams in several competitions and sometimes they look to accumulate points and not chase records.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2013.