This year Pakistan has sent a very short contingent for the Olympic Games due to that disappointment has spread among the fans who love sports in the country. Pakistan’s frequent non-qualification for indoor or outdoor sports shows the indifference towards sports in our country.
Former Olympians and legends have expressed disappointment over the small size of Pakistan’s squad for the 2024 Olympic Games. With only seven players and 11 officials, Pakistan’s participation in the event is shockingly unrepresentative of its population of 245 million. The limited number of athletes participating in the Paris Games raises concerns about the country’s overall sporting development and investment in grooming or nurturing talent.
In view of the current situation in the country for the last three decades the necessary measures have not been taken to promote sports even national sports have not been organized many times in the country that is a nursery for producing new athletes.
Apart from that due to lack of good sports complex for sports in the country. The standard of our national sports is not at par with the international standard due to which our athletes are not performing well in the international circuit. This is why for the first time in history such a small contingent has been sent to the Olympics.
Disappointingly only one of the Pakistani athletes has directly qualified for the Olympic Games. Javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem is also the only medal hope for Pakistan. Sprinter Faiqa Riaz qualified on wild card while all others are in the quota. Meanwhile the once-proud national hockey team failed to qualify for the Olympics for the third time in a row. India on the other hand has made steady progress in the last few Olympics and this year’s squad will have 124 athletes, the majority of whom are direct qualifiers.
So authorities have to invest in sports development programs that classify trained and support athletes. This will not only give Pakistani athletes more opportunities to compete and excel at the global level but also reflects the country’s commitment to sports and athletic development.
While critics may point to the high cost of high-end training facilities many other countries on a budget have set up systems where players can meet international standards that allow top talent to win sponsorship which can cover higher levels of expenditure. Lack of funds for the promotion of sports in Pakistan has always been a problem. It should be remembered that there are no facilities for indoor and outdoor sports in our country even in big cities.
This is the reason that no talent is emerging in our country except cricket. Then sports have almost ended in colleges due to which high-quality talent is not coming out, so there is a need to focus on organizing sports at the school level and widen the canvas of organizing national sports. So that more and more departments and players can be a part of these games.
Apart from that sponsors should be given for talented players of indoor and outdoor sports that they can participate in more international sports. Now it is the responsibility of the Pakistan Olympics Association to build a model of sports in the country in such a way that all the lower level institutions are associated with it to take the sports to the national level and then to the international level.
No such system could be devised in the country to which our sports could rise. Now it is necessary for the government to formulate a long-term policy for all formats, including the Olympics that can be implemented to further promote sports on the pattern of neighboring countries in the future. It is hoped that, Far-reaching measures will be taken by responsible authorities to overcome on the above problems.
