As reported by The News, national sports federations across Pakistan have unanimously decided that they need to adopt a cohesive and strong strategy in order to counter India’s moves. They are of the opinion that India is vehemently trying to destroy Pakistan sports and isolate it from the international sporting scenario by blocking the country’s participation in global events.
This comes after the fact that Pakistan was barred from competing in the Kabaddi World Cup held in October, and their hockey colts will also not feature in the FIH Junior Hockey World Cup which is set to be staged in India from the 8th of December. Predominantly, other sports like table tennis and Cricket have also suffered because of the cross-border tension between the two Asian countries.
As a result, sports federations across the country want the government to take a stand against India’s efforts. The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has already sought the help of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA).
PCB and PHF up in arms
On the other hand, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has also raised its issue with the International Cricket Council (ICC) saying that India has not engaged in a bilateral series with the nation despite commitments which has brought forth deep financial losses for the cricket board.
In light of the Pakistan team being barred from the Junior Hockey World Cup, media reports in Pakistan suggest that Hockey India has done what the BCCI has been doing for years since they do not want the nation to compete in the World Cup in 2019.
“We will have to consider legal options to secure our position in world hockey,” PHF secretary Shahbaz Ahmed was quoted as saying to The News.
He further went on to add, that PHF had sought IOC’s intervention through POA, seeking to stop injustice with Pakistan as hockey is an Olympic game and FIH is part of IOC.
He said that PHF would also contact other important hockey-playing countries, including Holland, Australia, Germany, England, Spain, Argentina and Belgium. “These countries know the importance of Pakistan in world hockey,” Shahbaz said.
He went on to suggest that India was taking such steps since Pakistan was trying hard to bounce back to glory in the sport of hockey and were on the brink of qualification for the World Cup and the Olympics. “They did not give visas to our junior players. Our junior team had qualified for the World Cup. Our next target is to qualify for men’s senior World Cup. That’s why the Indians are doing all this,” he said.
As such, sports officials in Pakistan have decided to adopt a tough strategy in order to combat what they think are India’s machinations by contacting various world sports governing bodies. But prior to this, heads of several Pakistan sports federations would contact the ministry of IPC and give them suggestions about how to counter India at international forums.
“There is no doubt that India is doing all this because of its financial muscle in the world of sports, but money is not everything. It is the promotion of sports which should be the objective,” a sports official was quoted as saying to The News.
“We will raise this issue at various forums to foil India’s conspiracies,” he added.
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