Daily Times

Tokyo Olympics 2020 concluded on 8th August 2021 with a colourful and dazzling closing ceremony. Against all odds, due to coronavirus pandemic, Tokyo was successful in hosting the last year’s Games which were postponed to 2021. This was the first such delay in the Olympic Games’ 124-year modern history. The postponement marked the first break in the four-year cycle for the Summer Olympics since the 1940 and 1944 Games were cancelled because of World War II. Since the dawn of the 2021, uncertainty had been persisted over the Olympic Games with many countries urging Japan and the International Olympic Council (IOC) to cancel the Games due to global health crisis. But the IOC and Japan remained adamant to hold the Olympics and Paralympics at all costs. Japan’s fourth Olympics, held 57 years after the 1964 Games reintroduced the country to the world after its World War II defeat, represented a planet trying to come together at a historical moment when disease and circumstance and politics had splintered it apart. No doubt, sporting events around the globe are heart-warming, thrilling, inspiring and rejuvenating simply because no other social event creates an atmosphere which is generated by sporting events. These events bring together a cross section of sportsmen, officials and other categories of individuals on a platform of freedom, happiness and uninhibited friendship.

Lack of availability of proper facilities and infrastructure, inadequate role of sports federations and lack of support from the government has badly affected Pakistan’s graph in sports. Perhaps the biggest reason for the extraordinary decline in sports in Pakistan is lack of funding and vision. Governments all over the world keep sports and education as their top priority, build infrastructure, hold talent development programmes for players and promote medical sciences in sports to compete the world of sports. But in Pakistan it is totally opposite because sports are not our priority.

Held in the middle of a resurging pandemic, rejected by many Japanese and plagued by months of administrative problems, these Games presented logistical and medical obstacles like no other. As one of the strangest Olympics and most expensive one in recent memory, the mega event ended without spectators as reminder of the pandemic that could not be brought to heels. Yet perhaps more than any recent Olympics, the Games were an athletic reality show, inviting viewers to seek respite from the frustration and tragedy of the past 19 months. The drama of competition and bouts of rousing sportsmanship offered diversion from the daily counts of coronavirus cases — the ones within the Olympic bubble and the vastly larger numbers outside of it. A downsized Tokyo 2020, in which the voice of the athletes and the health of everyone involved, was put at the forefront of attention and gave the Olympic Movement a new élan of international meaning and relevance. The Olympic Games served as a beacon of humanity’s resilience and its triumph over the pandemic.

Given numerous scandals involving Tokyo 2020 officials and concerns before the Games that they might result in a superspreader event, Tokyo organisers could claim success simply because the worst-case scenario did not occur because of tough COVID-19 measures. Hats off to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japan for holding the Summer Games 2020 in a successful manner in difficult times and against expectations.

Athletes’ perseverance became a central story. Mental health claimed bandwidth as never before, and athletes revealed their stories and struggles in vulnerable, sometimes excruciating fashion. Fans were riveted by USA athletics legend Simone Biles and her decision to withdraw from most of her gymnastics events while speaking candidly about mental health issues. New sports like skateboarding and surfing made their Olympic debuts. There were upsets: The USA women’s soccer team fell to Canada in semifinals; Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito won Japan’s first gold medal in table tennis over the Chinese world champions. Naomi Osaka, after lighting the Olympic cauldron for Japan, was eliminated in the third round of her tennis tournament, denying the host country a potential gold medal moment it had dearly hoped for. There were history-making triumphs: Allyson Felix surpassed Carl Lewis as the most decorated American Olympian in track and field, and Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya successfully defended his gold medal in the men’s marathon. India won their first medal in hockey for more than 40 years after defeating Germany 5-4 in a thrilling bronze medal match.

Pakistan badly needs medal winning Olympians: Since independence Pakistan sports are on the map. International sports performances by Pakistan in the last seven decades have much to commend them. Arguably, Pakistan’s performances in many sports have inspired many countries to emulation to future achievements. But the last two decades have been a different story altogether. Over the years, Pakistan sports have gone to the dogs. Pakistan’s performance in international sports is no longer consistent with its population and economic bases. In the 1950s and early 1960s, we were amongst the top five sporting nations in Asia and have now come down to the lowest. We used to excel in major sports. Now we are not even amongst the first 30 out of 45 participating countries in the Asian Games.

Anybody outside the country who spent time watching the last two Olympic Games — Tokyo 2020 in Japan and Rio 2016 in Brazil — might not realise that sports are played in Pakistan. At the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Pakistan Olympic Association had sent ten athletes. A nation of 220 million was represented by just ten sportspersons. The 10 comprised seven men and three women, competing in athletics, badminton, judo, shooting, swimming, and weightlifting. Before that, at the Rio Olympic Games 2016, Pakistan had its smallest-ever contingent: just seven athletes. Since 1948, hockey had been Pakistan’s main hope for an Olympic medal. The hockey squad always formed a major part of Pakistan’s Olympic contingent. It is lamentable that Pakistan hockey, which remained up in the clouds for more than three decades, is not the same force that it used to be, and failed to qualify for two consecutive Olympic Games: Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. Pakistan hockey, which inspired millions around the globe, last won an Olympic medal in 1992 Barcelona.

What more depressing is that sports activities in schools, colleges and universities have touched an all-time low because of diminishing sports fields, poor systems and lack of interest in sports by young generation that have many other options to keep them occupied. But perhaps the worst aspect of this development is that educational administrators no longer feel that sports are an integral part of all decent educational systems. Some even think it is a waste of time. This is one of the main reasons why student representation in our national sports teams is becoming negligible compared to the past when most of our national teams thrived on student and university representation. This particular flaw in our educational system is one of the major causes of intolerance in our society.

Pakistan failed to win a medal of any colour at the Tokyo Olympics. It is sad that Tokyo 2020 was no different from Rio 2016, London 2012, Beijing 2008 or any of the preceding Olympics going back to Atlanta 1996, with Pakistan returning empty-handed from each of the last seven Olympic Games. The sum total of Pakistan’s Olympics achievements since 1947 is ten medals. Eight in hockey, including three golds, one each in wrestling and boxing. Pakistan haven’t won a medal for 29 years. The fact is that Pakistan continues to nosedive further as time passes and one isn’t even sure if we have hit our lowest point yet.

Pakistan won their last Olympic medal at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, Cricket World Cup in 1992, Hockey World Cup in 1994 and World Snooker Championship in 1994. There have been successes like the 2009 World Twenty20 title, the IBSF World Snooker Championship crown in 2012 and the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 triumph, but such victories have been few and far between. Over the years, not one, not two but almost all sports have experienced a sharp slump in our country. It goes beyond misfortune and carelessness and instead appears to be a trend. Since 1997, five years after Pakistan’s last Olympic medal in any sport, Pakistan’s superiority in squash is no more. Like the Olympics and hockey, squash has nothing to showcase since the 1990s. The older generation still talks and recall with great delight the spellbinding achievements of the past while the present generation only has tales of the past to live on.

Talha Talib and Arshad Nadeeem shine despite not reaching podium: Pakistan had serious hopes of an Olympic medal – its first since 1992 and first ever in athletics – when Arshad Nadeem arrived at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium for the men’s javelin final. Arshad, Pakistan’s first-ever track-and-field athlete to qualify for the Olympic Games, had made history when he reached the final and was aiming to do better than weightlifter Talha Talib who narrowly missed out on bronze earlier in Tokyo. Arshad eventually finished fifth, meaning Pakistan’s wait for an Olympic medal will go on till the Games in Paris in 2024. Arshad and Talha’s performances showed that Pakistan has improved since the 2016 Rio Olympics. Arshad and Talha had raised our hopes purely because of their own talent and struggle, with a little help from their respective national federations or the government. Lack of availability of proper facilities and infrastructure, inadequate role of sports federations and lack of support from the government has badly affected Pakistan’s graph in sports. Perhaps the biggest reason for the extraordinary decline in sports in Pakistan is lack of funding and vision. Pakistan’s sports budget is the lowest in South Asia, less than that of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and even Afghanistan. Governments all over the world keep sports and education as their top priority, build infrastructure, hold talent development programmes for players and promote medical sciences in sports to compete the world of sports. But in Pakistan it is totally opposite because sports are not our priority.

It is also very unfortunate that Pakistan sports, over the years, have become politicised and nepotistic. In the national sphere and the sporting arena the root of our dilemma is the notorious system of patronage and imposed cronies, to the exclusion of merit and professionalism. Under the powerful patron’s benevolent gaze, the pick and choose appointees can survive scandals and failures that would crush an ordinary mortal. These are times when one fails to figure out what is keeping Pakistan sports alive. In other countries, the people running the sports affairs contribute by taking professional decisions and by executing them with competence rather than on the basis of personal preference and bias. But, frankly, we are not such a nation. In Pakistan most things defy logic. With the passage of time we have all come to accept the reality of our warped existence and begun to believe that if something has to go wrong, there are over 100 percent chances that it will happen here.

What more depressing is that sports activities in schools, colleges and universities have touched an all-time low because of diminishing sports fields, poor systems and lack of interest in sports by young generation that have many other options to keep them occupied. But perhaps the worst aspect of this development is that educational administrators no longer feel that sports are an integral part of all decent educational systems. Some even think it is a waste of time. This is one of the main reasons why student representation in our national sports teams is becoming negligible compared to the past when most of our national teams thrived on student and university representation. This particular flaw in our educational system is one of the major causes of intolerance in our society.

At the same time, cricket has overshadowed all other sports in the country including our national game – field hockey. Television, commercialisation and the advertising world have promoted cricket to an extent that it has become a Mount Everest that is badly affecting other sports in the country. Popularity of cricket, especially among the younger generation, has prevented the growth of other sports activities. Government officials and private sector are not interested in investing in anything other than cricket. Patronising only cricket and ignoring other sports is very unfair. Cricket does not have the kind of global competition that other sports have as its playing is limited to a handful of largely Commonwealth countries.

We have also become a funny nation that likes to live in a world of dreams and fantasies. We dream of excellence at international level in sports without even realising that the present sports set-up in Pakistan just does not have the capacity to deliver. Therefore, those who feel that the present set-up can be result oriented are not living in a realistic world. Modern sports structures all over the world have sports institutes as integral components of their systems. Even Bangladesh has one. It is unfortunate that after 74 years of independence we have not been able to establish one. There are a variety of reasons for this vital missing link in our sports. People at the helm of affairs either do not realise the importance of this institution or hesitate simply because they do not know how to go about it.

One honestly feel that we have the potential to produce good results if, and it is a big IF, we can evolve a modern scientific system – not too ambitious but one based on our national ground realities, available manpower and above all the capacity to deliver. The entire mind-set has to be changed. The subject of sports is now a science and this is the starting point that everybody associated with sports in Pakistan needs to accept. There are certain imperatives and they need to be understood clearly. We also need to drill home the importance of sports in our national priorities: how sports provide the only recreational oxygen for masses, educate tolerance and are the only uniting national gel at this critical juncture in our history. It is time for the government to realise that Chinese sports model has to be followed as far as possible to channelise our youth and provide them avenues to excel. Such a strategy will automatically eliminate problem confronting our youth. Thus the present government, the POA, the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) and the responsible sports officials of national sports federations should sincerely cooperate to develop such a vision for the good of Pakistan youngsters.

Foreign coaches, sports exchanges, streamlined domestic competitions and sustained training camps should form integral components of this plan. This plan should be gotten approved from the Prime Minister, so that funds allocation doesn’t become a problem. The IPC Ministry, the POA and the PSB should then hold an in-depth meeting with office bearers of the concerned national sports federations to solicit their advice and opinion on improvement in this plan. Granted that the current situation seems to be hopeless but one has always been an optimist and believe that where there is a will, there is a way.

Sports are littered with examples of sports men and women who have performed well against the odds —- that’s partly what keeps us watching as spectators. Confucius said: “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” This quote, in part, explains why sports people can recover from adversity and perform well. Some would argue that failure is a necessary part of the process of success. The important thing here is not the adversity that is faced but how those affected react to the adversity. One can respond by giving in and allowing the adversity to perpetuate, developing a culture of failure, or by demonstrating a dogged determination to rebuild and rise again.

To rise above again, Pakistan sports require strong financial backup, commitment and self-belief. Only hard and incessant efforts lead to success. Only then the elusive triumphs will replace the current tragedies that demean the country once basking in Olympic golds and world crowns. In the absence of these, we should not dream of reaching the skies. To rise from nothing, against all adversity, and reach the pinnacle, that is a dream that is as powerful today as it has ever been. Olympians are marked by their heroics, their endeavor and their struggle against the odds. Pakistan has no Olympians of note for our present generation. The Tokyo Olympics should be a wake-up call for the government, and the country’s sporting authorities. Paris Olympics 2024 will be no different if the current crisis in Pakistan sports continues.

(The writer is Sports Editor at Daily Times. He can be reached at mali319@hotmail.com)