Naseeb Ullah Achakzai
Pakistan has been contributing to sports since British Raj. On the other side, Balochistan has also produced many international players in different sports events and has brought a medal from the Olympics too. Owing to different obstacles, the province has been short of providing the required results in different sports events.
Pakistan has been part of the Asian Games Olympics, Islamic solidarity games, youth Olympics, commonwealth games, Azlan Shah hockey, international cricket, Boxing, Snooker, etc. Pakistan sports board was established in 1962. Before its formation, Pakistan has been participating in the Olympics. It has won 10 Olympics medals yet that include 3 Gold, 3 Silver, and 4 Bronze. In the 2022_23 budget, the federal government allocated Rs 3.47 billion for sports. Lack of budgets, players, and facilities Pakistan has not been able to represent in even a dozen of sports events in the Olympics. For instance, in the Olympics of 2022, there were 339 sports events but Pakistani players participated in only 10 events.
The country has produced numerous players in different events in which the players of Balochistan had a pivotal role. For instance, in football, many players from Balochistan such as Essa Khan, Kaleemullah, Abdul Sattar, Abdul Qayyum Changesi, and Akhtar Mohiudine, had been integral parts of the Pakistan football team. In Hockey Muhammad Shafiq Ahmed participated in the Olympics. In Boxing events, Ibrar Hussain Shah won the Olympic bronze medal, Mirwais Khan is an Asian Champion, Muhammad Wasim is a renowned boxing player who presented Pakistan on an international level, and Asghar Ali was an Asian champion. Apart from this, in different sports events such as Shooting, Karate, skiing, caving, etc. Balochistan has contributed too.
Sports need ample budgets and facilities for players to motivate them and give the required results. Unfortunately, in Balochistan, it is missing. The sports ministry had been under the federal government. After the 18th amendment sports ministry was devolved to provinces. As for as the budget reserved for sports is concerned, it has not been reasonable. In the provincial budget of 2022_ 23 sports budget was 450 million Rupees. If we divide it into 34 districts it is just 13 million per district. According to the official website of the government of Balochistan, work is continued on the construction of 23 sports complexes in the province. The government has a plan to build a stadium in every district. For this purpose, it allocated Rs 20 Billion from 2018 to 2022.
Hurdles such as grooming, dearth of academies, lack of facilities for sports activities in rural areas, poverty, favoritism, unemployment, lack of professional leagues, dearth of talent identification and development programs, paucity of community Sports events such as cricket, football, volleyball, and traditional sports like “Kabaddi” and “Malakhra”, etc. are the main impediments in the promotion of sports in the country with special reference to Balochistan. Sports Policy 2005 admits that alongside identity crisis, ethnic and religious differences, and discrimination are huge barriers. These impediments never allow players to come in front. Notwithstanding, there is a lack of sports infrastructure and a shortage of trained coaches and trainers as well in the province. Steps should be taken in this regard to polish the energies of the youth. In this regard, an ample budget should be provided to district administration with a backup of strong vigilance of the provincial government so as not to let the funds be embezzled and misused. On one side, the unemployment rate is the highest in the province, while on the flip side, the sportsmen belong to poor families. Without future guarantees of jobs, we cannot groom and produce players. This impediment has led to an unemployment ratio for sports persons high in Pakistan. For instance, in the United Kingdom and Germany is 30 percent and 13 percent respectively, while it is less than one percent in Pakistan.
The educational institutions are sports nurseries at the grassroots level. Unfortunately, educational institutions in Balochistan lack basic sports facilities. Focusing on this issue can heal the dwindling sports sector of the province.
The players of Balochistan have been complaining that they have not been included in national teams. This assertion carries weight. A sad reality of the negligence of federal sports organizations such as PCB, PPA, PHF, etc. has been the lack of talent hunt programs and trials in Balochistan. Balochistan has hidden potential for youth players in different spots and events which should be sharpened. Notwithstanding, Pakistan has the potential for sports tourism in which Balochistan could have prime importance in waters sports. For instance, there are huge opportunities for water sports such as skiing, scuba diving, etc. in the country. While international teams could be attracted to Polo events. Moreover, we can invite the Chinese through the CPEC in cooperation with sports events as China has a good track record in sports events. Its companies and franchises can be invited which would also help in Social development that is a part of the CPEC.
In addition, government policies have been hampering sports growth in the country among other issues political interference has been a big problem of it. A good option is making sports boards autonomous on the footprints of the PCB which is generating gigantic revenue and is producing players too. For example, the PCB generates 166 million dollars annually. In the PSL 2022, it provided 3.1 million dollars to franchises. While the net revenue of the PCB was 2.6 billion USD.
Moreover, the global sports industry is 50 billion USD while ours is only 1.51 billion USD. There is a dire need to invite investors and provide them with facilities. More, Sialkot which is a hub of sports types of equipment should be provided basic facilities such as energy to bolster the sports trade.
In conclusion, it can be assessed that Pakistan with special reference to Balochistan has the potential to produce world-class players in different sports events who can bring medals for the country. Unfortunately, along with other obstacles, the dearth of facilities, paucity of ample budget, nepotism, and political interference have not let the sports industry to flourish in the country