Sports is one of the most important activities for an individual. It physically keeps the body fit. However, sport is an area where the least attention is paid as far as my country is concerned. There are many reasons why they are being neglected, we will discuss these reasons and how can we make them better, in this article.
Reasons for sports negligence
The field of sports, like other fields, is also stuck in between the corrupt system. The field of sports, after the 18th Amendment in the Constitution, has become a domain of the provinces. The provinces don’t pay much attention to it. Everywhere, there are associations made, which decide the fate of sports, but the problem is that corrupt and incompetent are the stakeholders of that association. The affairs of the whole association are with the most corrupt officer. These people don’t give chance to talented people.
Although corruption and incompetence is a major problem, however, there are other problems as well. One of them is that there is little or no talent hunt at the national level. There are so many talented sports players in every nook and corner of the country. There is no proper system of talent hunt in the country. We don’t let new people rise and shine in the world of sports. I have seen in schools, such as the one where I studied, there are so many talented footballers, basketballers, table tennis players, volleyball players in there, both girls and boys. Believe me, if they are given a chance, they can become champions in the world, but the problem is they are not given exposure. There are no proper domestic championships or tournaments in the country.
Furthermore, other reasons include not having proper grounds for sports, if there are any, people aren’t allowed to play, which shows up the ill intentions of the management. The already made sports grounds are being encroached on by powerful people. This is an important reason for the decline of sports. Moreover, Government is not providing funds for its development.
Why is there no proper training?
The reason why there is no proper training in sports is that we have no proper coaches. We do not provide training to the players so that they can make their sports better. Our coaches aren’t trained to coach. The coach has to be a proper teacher, and I would suggest that the Government must provide training for sports coaches.
I have seen that nowadays there are so many schools that don’t have sports. There is no promotion of sports in the schools, which is a big hurdle towards proper training, coaching and the rise of talent. There must be proper sports grounds in schools and colleges so that their talent gets coaching, and they represent the country on a national level or international level. The Government must pay attention to it.
How can we overcome these problems?
We can overcome these problems which are a hurdle for the development of sports by bringing competent and expert people. The government should restructure the whole of the sports department, and take it to the grass-root level. New faces, new talents, young people must be given chance to come forward. Children must be told about the importance of sports. Remember, gyms are not sports.
The government must work towards building stadiums, grounds, training grounds so that the people must be able to practice their talents and showcase them in front of the world and make their country proud, and themselves proud. There must be a rule to make sure that every school has a sports ground. It must be made sure that sports are part of the school activities.
People must bring a change in themselves. People must understand the importance of sports.
Participation in International Events
Pakistan does not have much representation in International sports except for cricket and somehow hockey. Pakistan Hockey Team couldn’t qualify for the Olympics for the last 3 consecutive times. What is the reason? The reasons are mentioned above. For participation in international events, you need effort, resources and proper coaching. Why don’t we work for it? Instead of criticizing, we must work as a nation for the development of sports. What was the representation of Pakistan in the Olympics 2020? Only 10 people? Why? Now here, the responsibility is not only of the government but also the people.
Why is there no Volleyball team internationally representing Pakistan? Why there are no badminton, tennis, table tennis players playing in the Olympics, playing the International Championships? What is the reason why there is no Pakistan Football Team in FIFA? There are so many players, in every nook and corner of the country, but they are being wasted. The reasons for this are mentioned above. There are so many Arshad Nadeems and Talha Talibs, Mahnoor Shehzads not given a chance to come forward. There is so much favouritism, corruption and mismanagement.
Pakistan has only once lifted a Cricket World Cup in 1992 under Imran Khan’s leadership. We lifted T20 World in 2009 under Younas Khan’s captaincy. We won ICC World Championship in 2017 under Sarfaraz Ahmed’s captaincy. This is not enough, we can’t compare this with Australia’s achievements. Pakistan last time won an Olympic medal in 1992.
There is much more effort to be done to qualify for the International Competitions. Passion and hard work need to be done. For that, funds must be provided by the government, infrastructure must be provided, and hard work is our prerogative.
We need to have national and international, all kinds of sports to be played.
Why sports are important?
Sports play a vital role in our physical and mental life. The most important thing sports teaches us is how to lose so you see, today nearly no one knows how to lose. Sports also teaches teamwork. Sports also gives physical fitness. Gyms are not an alternative to sports. There must be a difference between gyms and sports.
Sports make us be healthy. It helps boost our energy. Our physique gets better.
Sports keeps people away from drugs and bad habits. It is a very beautiful thing that must be included in the educational syllabus.
Sports are extremely important. I often query why we spend too little on sports. We have so many talented boys and girls. Invest in them so we don’t complain about our participation in the Olympics and other competitions.
I hope you loved reading my article. I provided my views about why sports are neglected and what can we do to overcome the negligence.
Pakistan Zindabad
Long Live Sports
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Picture Acknowledgements: Google
