Asks govt to introduce performance-based grant system

PFB chairman calls for baseball grounds in all major citiesBy Ghalib BajwaLAHORE: The way the game of baseball is growing in Pakistan quite rapidly, every major city of the country must have a baseball ground with all necessary facilities; this was stated by Shaukat Javed, Chairman Pakistan Federation Baseball (PFB), in an exclusive interview with ‘The News’ at his residence on Thursday.Shaukat said at a time when Pakistan’s all major games are fighting for survival, Pakistan baseball team is winning laurels for the country and despite such a tremendous performance, Pakistan govt did not build a single ground for national baseball team which is quite alarming. “There should be at least 4, 5 modern baseball venues in a big city like Lahore,” he added.Shaukat Javed, a former DG IB and IG Police Punjab, said Pakistan has been enriched with baseball talent. “Our national baseball team, despite having limited resources, showed remarkable progress in a short period of time. Right now Pakistan is ranked 29th in the world and 5th out of 63 countries in Asia and it is enough to gauge the baseball talent we possess”.Elaborating his point Shaukat said Pakistan team has already qualified for Asian Games Baseball Championship which is a great honour and won several West Asia baseball titles. “Khawar Shah, the late President of PFB had a major role in Pakistan’s outstanding position in baseball. Now Pakistan Baseball Federation is striving hard to maintain its standing under the young leadership of Syed Fakhar Ali Shah and we are quite upbeat that our team will not only achieve its goal but also improve its ranking in Asia in near future,” he expressed his hope.When asked about the funds PFB receiving from govt, Shaukat, who has served at several top positions during his professional career, said PFB is receiving very nominal funds from govt and these funds are insufficient for its national and international events and other expenses. “PFB has to arrange residences, food and coaching etc for 16 young players from Fata at Bahria Town Baseball Academy through its own resources only due to insufficient govt funds,” he revealed. Shaukat, who is also serving as Convener Golf Lahore Gymkhana, said govt must regularize and raise the funds for sports federations especially for those who are genuinely performing and winning fabulous titles for the country. “Govt should also introduce performance-based grant system. In this way, all the federations will try their best to produce excellent results in their respective games and ultimately, the standards of our sports will also be improved gradually,” he maintained.Replying a query regarding persistent decline in Pakistan’s sports standard, Shaukat Javed, who is also vice-president of POA, said non-serious approach of our govt was the major factor behind this shocking downfall. “Though belated Punjab govt has realised its duties and one can see sufficient sports development work across the province. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is also putting some focus on sports promotion but the remaining two provinces are totally failed in this regard,” he claimed.Shaukat, who played athletics, cricket, football, squash and golf during his academic life, said the absence of regular sports competitions in schools and colleges is another major reason behind rapid decline in overall sports trend in our country.“It’s true that schools and colleges are real nurseries for any game. Govt should hold competitive sports tournaments on regular basis at grass roots level if it wants to trace fresh talent in games like athletics, baseball, hockey and football etc,” he stressed.Giving example of China’s visionary approach, Shaukat said: “Chinese govt is spending huge amount of money and imparting vital training to little school kids in different games keeping in view the 2028 Olympic Games. They are also preparing their contingents separately for 2024 and 2020 Olympic Games”. “Pakistan also needs to follow China in its strategies if they want to end the fatal downfall in the sports field but unfortunately nobody bothers about national image, respect and repute in our country since long,” he lamented.

from The News International - Sports https://ift.tt/2EHIuJa