Daily Times

LAHORE: The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) not only embarrassed the national table tennis squad but also put the country to shame when the immigration officials at the Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International stopped the Pakistan players from travelling abroad on Wednesday night for an international competition. The team – comprising Asim Qureshi, Ramiz Hussain, Aisha Iqbal, Fatima Khan, and Mahmoodah – were reportedly flying to Sweden via a foreign airline to participate in the 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships to be held there from April 29 to May 6. The national team players were not only stopped by the immigration officials but also by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) personnel on the behest of the PSB. While explaining the reason behind this stoppage, one official said Thursday that the players were barred from travelling on Wednesday night for not having a letter of confirmation from the Ministry of Interior. But in fact it was the parallel body of the Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF) that became the reason for the authorities at the airport to offload the national team players from travelling abroad. It seems that the Government of Pakistan has not learnt any lesson from its past blunders, directions of the the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or the Olympic Charter, and has again started interfering in the affairs of the national sports federations.

The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) has flayed the incident and embarrassing the national team members. In a strong worded letter, dated April 26, addressed to the PSB Director General, the National Olympic Committee (NOC) Pakistan has stated that the national table tennis squad have been stopped due to the ‘government interference’. “The Pakistan table tennis team, entered by the legitimate Pakistan Table Tennis Federation, has been offloaded on the behest of an illegal body being supported by the PSB in violation of the directions that only those National Federations will be recognised by the PSB which are affiliated or recognised by their respective International Federations,” said POA Secretary General Muhammad Khalid Mahmood in the letter. He said the PSB had violated the ‘Lausanne Agreement’ signed in July 2014. “It is also pertinent to mention that recently a table tennis team was supported by the PSB to participate in the South Asian Junior Cadet and Hopes Table Tennis Championships 2018 at Maldives – a violation of Lausanne Agreement signed by the Government of Pakistan, IOC, Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), and the POA.”

Khalid said the POA had reiterated its position many a time that the PTTF, headed by SM Sibtain, was the only legitimate federation which was still affiliated with the Pakistan Olympic Association and was recognised by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). “This incident of offloading athletes is not only illegal but violates the fundamental rights of citizens as well as the rights of athletes protected by the Olympic Charter. This is an unprecedented incident that has caused a huge embarrassment for Pakistan in the international sports fraternity,” maintained Khalid. If this case is formally lodged with the IOC Athletes Commission or at other relevant forums, it will damage the national image in sporting world to a new low.

Published in Daily Times, April 27^th 2018.