Muhammad Yasir Pirzada, Director General of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), has expressed optimism that the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Inter-Provincial Games will be successful despite limited resources available to the body.
The Quaid-E-Azam Inter-Provincial Games kicked off on Sunday, wherein teams of both male and female athletes from all four provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan, and Islamabad are participating.
The games feature competitions across various sports, including athletics, badminton, boxing, football, hockey, judo, kabaddi, karate, squash, swimming, taekwondo, table tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, and wrestling.
Meanwhile, Punjab emerged as the undisputed leader in the medals tally with a stunning total of 163 medals, including 77 gold at Pakistan Sports Complex. The province claimed 50 silver and 36 bronze medals.
Speaking to Geo News exclusively, the PSB DG said that at least 3,000 athletes were participating in the games, being held after seven years.
“We are making efforts to make the event a success despite limited resources,” he said, adding that the federal government has released funds for the games.
In response to a question, he rebuffed the notion of a lack of sports infrastructure across the country, noting that even villages in Punjab have grass turf for hockey.
However, he pointed out that it was the responsibility of sports federations to hunt for talent. “Elections are not held properly in sports federations, while their representatives do not vacate seats for years,” he said, stressing the need for improvement in the election process.
Furthermore, Yasir said that the PSB has started chalking out a “code of conduct” and scrutiny of elections in sports federations — the approval for which will be received from the federal cabinet soon. “We have chalked out the code of conduct considering the methods being operated in Canada, Britain and the United States,” he added.
“The board will help the players with a limited budget, but the job of the provincial boards is to fund the players,” he said.
Responding to a question, the director general said that the body has developed a four-year programme keeping in mind the future of sports. “A pool of Pakistan’s best athletes will be created under the programme,” he said, adding that the selected athletes will be called to Islamabad and a camp will be set up.
