POA chief bemoans barriers faced by athletes in Pakistan. PHOTO: ONLINE/FILE
KARACHI: President of the internationally recognised Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), Arif Hasan, confirmed on Wednesday that there will be representation from Pakistan in only two disciplines at the ongoing 3rd Islamic Solidarity Games in Indonesia.
The tussle between the Arif Hasan-led POA and the government backed body, headed by Akram Sahi, has left the national athletes in no man’s land. The country recently faced embarrassment when Pakistan swimmers Sikander Khan and Ghulam Mohammad were twice denied to board flights by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials on the instructions of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).
However, Hasan revealed yesterday that Pakistan’s Taekwondo team along with swimmers Liana Swann and Anum Bandey will represent Pakistan at the Games.
“Pakistan will have token participation at the Islamic Solidarity Games despite all the barriers our athletes have faced,” Hasan told reporters at a press conference.
“Our swimmers will reach Indonesia from International flights (Bandey from London and Swann from Dubai) while some taekwondo athletes will also be sent for participation.”
Arif did not disclose the identity of the taekwondo participants and their travelling schedule.
He added that athletes and officials were denied entry at airports despite having official accreditation and all the required documents needed to travel to Indonesia for the event.
“We had accreditation but yet our people weren’t given permission to take their flights which is wrong. Once you have the accreditation you don’t need visas, but we were told by FIA officials that we can’t go without a visa.”
The International Olympic Committee has called the Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada to their headquarters to discuss the issue. However, Hasan is confident that he will remain in charge of the POA while Shahid Ali will also continue is his post as the IOC member from Pakistan.
He reiterated that the Supreme Court’s ruling – which bars official from taking a post in sports federations for the third time after completing two four-year tenures – does not apply to the POA as it is affiliated with the IOC and not with the PSB.
It was also revealed that the PSB is trying to impose ad-hoc on some sports federations, who were supporting the IOC recognised POA officials.
Athletes unhappy with deadlock
Several athletes of different disciplines have shown anger at the continued deadlock between the two POAs, stating that their game should not suffer because of the power struggle of the top officials.
The Islamic Solidarity Games is not the only tournament where the scuffle between the two POAs led to embarrassment for athletes and the country. Hockey’s participation in the 2014 Commonwealth Games also suffered due to the scuffle.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2013.
Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ