ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Acting Director General Dr Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera has said that Pakistan sports and athletes will be provided international level facilities to help them bring laurels for the country in near future.
In an interview with The Nation on Monday, Ganjera, who is also PSB DG Technical and Training, said: “Being a professional, I understand the importance of highly-sophisticated training for athletes as without proper training and diet, one can't even think about performing at international stage, so winning is a far cry.”
“I have taken the acting charge some three weeks back and first thing I have made sure is maintaining discipline and punctuality among staff. Now the entire staff has been performing their duty honestly and efficiently,” he added.
“I have already met with heads of different schools, colleges and universities and offered them to utilize our facilities free of cost. Majority of people has shown keen interest and now the people will see the PSB holding a great number of healthy activities in its premises.”
He said that it was quite unfortunate that for the past two years or so, none of the athletes was able to participate in international competitions due to the POA rift. “We can't afford to prolong this issue and now it is our top priority to resolve it once for all due to which the athletes of the country have suffered a lot and still they have been suffering.”
The acting DG added that the government had decided to release current financial grants of the affiliated federations, which followed the 2005 Sports Policy in true letter and spirit and this step indicated the POA issue was all set to be resolved in next few days. “Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) Minister Syed Riaz Hussain Pirzada and IPC Secretary Chaudhry Ejaz have already ordered immediate release of annual grants which will be released in next couple of days.”
“As soon as grants is released, we will conduct training camps keeping in mind some high-profile international events and provide athletes best available facilities, accommodation, national and international standard coaches so that the players may get benefit from the best coaches’ experiences and try to give more than 100 percent,” he added.
“We will hold training camps of males and females round the year. We have proposed different suggestions to the IPC and hopefully, sufficient amount of funds will be available to conduct these camps. I must appreciate the PSB staff that is willing to perform every task honestly and skillfully,” the acting DG stated.
He said that renovation work of different facilities was in full swing. “We have decided not to waste time on waiting for tenders and instead our own staffers are conducting the repair work, which will save millions of rupees of national kitty and more than desired results will be achieved at cheaper rates.”
“The country is in dire need of promoting healthy sporting activities. We have decided to conduct exclusive female sports gala from April 29-30 in collaboration with Federal Directorate of Education. We will provide 250 track suits to female athletes while rest of expenses will be borne by FDE which will also provide free transpiration to school girls from schools to the PSB. We will also provide them venues, facilities and other related support which they will require and provide them a platform where they can showcase their skills and earn laurels for the country,” Ganjera concluded.