Decline of National Sport in Pakistan
The national sports is going downhill with every passing day, as the sports particularly have been invaded by the politics and funds allocated for in this regard are not being used for its development. Hockey, the national sport of Pakistan has a splendid
past and has lifted plenty of international titles. It was a time when the Greenshirts were always in the victorious line.
Hockey has evolved as a more fast and competitive game in the recent era. Few years ago, hockey was used to be contested within short area of 50 yards. The game has become so advance with the invention of modern technologies. Every action and move of players
while dodging and dribbling others is being caught in the still and video cameras. The current players require more physical and mental stamina as compared the previous era.
Due to shortage of facilities, the game has been limited to major cities including Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad. What talk about the AstroTurf in the smaller cities, as they do not have had proper diet planes to maintain the required fitness? Grounds,
training, diet and funds are major issues in the head of declining status of hockey in the country.
It is worth mention here that hockey is quite expensive sport as compare to the other game like cricket and football. The price of a hockey stick is started from Rs. 2,000 while kit for goalies worth Rs 0.1 million.
The question is that who is liable to make available all the required facilities to the talent hidden across the country. Apparently, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) is dependable to provide facilities in this regard. But the officials in the federation
are inducted on political grounds and they do not get enough time to think about the sport in the fear of next elections. Every new government brings in new officials in the country which disturb the entire hockey structure.
Among the other reasons, one is that the sport in the country is reliant on numerous sectors like commercial banking, power companies, Army and Police. There is no league culture in the country like the ones present in Spain, Germany, Netherlands and Australia
where the game continues 12 months.
In the first step, there is a need to develop a mechanism of annual league on lines of the Premier Hockey League (PHL) which not only resolve the financial issues of players but help them to prepare a proper backup.
Dedication to the sport can be judged as the skipper of the national side is inducted on contract bases. The federation is not ready to invest money on players and train them while giving assurance of the games.
National Championship is a key tournament which helps the selection committees to pick up the players for international fixtures. However, this is not done in our country where everything is being done without planning.
Interestingly, some people used to partake in the Olympics just to get the label of Olympian, as they were not in any domestic or international fixture.
How to improve the situation:
For getting the desire results, many steps are needed to promote hockey at the grass-root level. The tournament covering age of U-14 and U-16 under the supervision of district administrations will play vital role to improve the game status. The system of
funding should also be set up at the DCO offices in order to avoid lengthy procedures and political interference. Such measures will not only make the system transparent but will provide positive results. The other step in this regard is to rule out the political
interference from the federation as well as the team.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and do not reflect the official editorial policy of Bettor.com
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