Life is a sport
I believe that sports as a beat actually triumphed over politics in the past month
Life is a sport. And being a sports reporter somehow does not feel so bad, once you realise that we all keep our scores anyway. Professionally, personally, and even our religion teaches us about the importance of keeping a track of our deeds. Whatever it is, trials, turbulences, triumphs, life is after all a sport.
I believe that sports as a beat actually triumphed over politics in the past month. Despite the bomb blast on the Wagah border too, Pakistan and India are collaborating to host a tennis event in New Delhi. It is not just that we are participating in it but we are co-hosting an international event in India since we can’t hold any International Tennis Federation event in Pakistan due to security concerns.
Similarly, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) will be hosting the South Asian Football Federation (Staff) Women Championship in Lahore. After the news of the bomb blast, I called up the federation, and they did confirm that the Indians had not decided to pull off from the programme yet.
Interestingly, the preparations for both these events have been taking place for over a month now and the news of the exchange of heavy firing on Pakistan-India border did not deter the sports fraternities.
For once, I felt good about being a sports reporter than one on a political beat. At least the sports communities have the spirit and they are not entirely led by their own selfish motives. They support the people-to-people initiatives.
On the other hand, if we look away from the political stance of India and Pakistan governments, the biggest challenge remains security and terrorism in the country. But listening to a PFF official gave me an ounce of hope, his reply was simple. He said that whatever the situation, should Pakistan stop interacting with India at all?
He very confidently said that by now, we should accept that terrorism is a problem and we can only tighten security and that the international sides should at least trust the authorities that are hosting the event. Otherwise the future of sports is doomed. I agreed with the official’s statement. I agreed and concluded that since life is a sport, it behooves us to carry on, and one cannot win without shedding their fears.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 6th, 2014.
I believe that sports as a beat actually triumphed over politics in the past month. Despite the bomb blast on the Wagah border too, Pakistan and India are collaborating to host a tennis event in New Delhi. It is not just that we are participating in it but we are co-hosting an international event in India since we can’t hold any International Tennis Federation event in Pakistan due to security concerns.
Similarly, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) will be hosting the South Asian Football Federation (Staff) Women Championship in Lahore. After the news of the bomb blast, I called up the federation, and they did confirm that the Indians had not decided to pull off from the programme yet.
Interestingly, the preparations for both these events have been taking place for over a month now and the news of the exchange of heavy firing on Pakistan-India border did not deter the sports fraternities.
For once, I felt good about being a sports reporter than one on a political beat. At least the sports communities have the spirit and they are not entirely led by their own selfish motives. They support the people-to-people initiatives.
On the other hand, if we look away from the political stance of India and Pakistan governments, the biggest challenge remains security and terrorism in the country. But listening to a PFF official gave me an ounce of hope, his reply was simple. He said that whatever the situation, should Pakistan stop interacting with India at all?
He very confidently said that by now, we should accept that terrorism is a problem and we can only tighten security and that the international sides should at least trust the authorities that are hosting the event. Otherwise the future of sports is doomed. I agreed with the official’s statement. I agreed and concluded that since life is a sport, it behooves us to carry on, and one cannot win without shedding their fears.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 6th, 2014.