Adil Najam
Miracles can still happen. But they are unlikely to.
In a few hours (at 6PM Beijing time) Pakistan’s field hockey team will play its fourth qualifying game against South Africa. Pakistan can and should win this game. But as important will be the results of the Australia v. Netherlands match, also to be played today at 8.30PM Beijing time. If Australia beats the Netherlands (possible) and – and this is very important – Pakistan then also beats the Netherlands (quite unlikely) and ends up with a goal average better than the Netherlands then Pakistan may – and, yes, its is still a may – have a chance to slide into the semi-finals (things will also depend of what Great Britain does in its remaining games). Had we not lost our first game to Great Britain we might have had a realistic chance; but we did not.
[UPDATE: Pakistan did defeat South Africa, 3-1, but the Australia-Netherlands game ended in a draw which means they have both now moved into the Semi-Finals, and Pakistan has not.]
As it turns out, then, it will take more than just a miracle now for Pakistan to medal at Beijing.
(AFP Photo: From Left -Iraq’s Dana Abdulrazak, France’s Christine Arron, Pakistan’s Sadaf Siddiqui, Brazil’s Lucimar de Moura, Lauryn Williams of the US and Tuvalu’s Asenate Manoa during the women’s 100m heat at the 2008 Beijing Olympics on August 16, 2008.
(AFP Photo: From Left – Puerto Rico’s Hector Cotto Gonzalez, Czech Republic’s Petr Svoboda, Colombian Paulo Villar, Pakistan’s Abdul Rashid, and Barbados’s Ryan Brathwaite during the men’s 110m hurdles heat at the 2008 Beijing Olympics on August 18, 2008.
But let us not be too harsh on the Pakistan Olympic squad. Winning is great. But participation also matters. And we have not been paying enough attention to Pakistani athletes, especially those not playing hockey, who have actually been participating at Beijing. So, here is a summary of what they have been up to. We salute them for their participation. Cheer them on for the effort they have put in. And look forward to better placements next time. (One of the following, Abdul Rashid, will be participating in the 110m hurdles at 311.26AM Beijing Time, Monday):
08.10.2008 – 25 years old Siddique Umar participated in the Men’s M 10m Air Rifle (60 shots). With a score of 578.0 he finished 48th.
08.13.2008 – 25 years old Adil Baig participated in Heat 5 of the Men’s 50m swimming qualifier. With a time of 25.66 seconds he finished 7th in his heat and overall 74th in the qualifiers.
08.14.2008 – 18 years old Kiran Khan participated in Heat 4 of the Women’s 50m swimming qualifier. With a time of 29.84 seconds she finished 6th in her heat and overall 69th in the qualifiers.
08.15.2008 – 22 years old Sadaf Siddiqui participated in Heat 2 of the Women’s 100m Round 1 Heat 2. With a time of 12.41 seconds she finished 7th in her heat. She did not qualify for next round.
08.16.2008 – 25 years old Siddique Umar participated in the Men’s 50m Free Rifle 3 positions (3×40 shots). With a score of 1116.0 he finished 49th.
08.18.2008 – 29 years old Abdul Rashid participated in the Men’s 110m Hurdles Round 1, Heat 3. With a time of 11.26 seconds he finished 8th amongst 8 in his heat.
Not unexpectedly, it is ever more clear that Pakistan’s Olympic 2008 contingent is likely to return from Beijing without any medals. Indeed, Pakistan has not won a medal since the 1992 Barcelona games (Bronze in Hockey). The question, then, is what could we do to change this dry spell. Not just in hockey but in other sports?
Squash legend Jehangir Khan, who now leads the World Squash Federation (WSF) is right now trying to make Squash an Olympics sport for the 2016 Games. He is quite likely to succeed. But given Pakistan’s recent squash performance it is not certain that this will ensure us a medal in 2016.
Cricket, in its 20-20 variant, could also make it to the Olympics sometime soon. Cricket was actually contested in the 1900 Olympics, but only two countries participated. That would likely make us competitive. But what about existing sports? If there was the will and the resources what could one do to make Pakistan show up in the medal tables?
What specific steps would you take if you were made the sports czar of Pakistan with teh goal of ensuring that Pakistan appears in the medal table by 2016. What sports would you focus on? Why? How?
Do please share ideas. Maybe, just maybe, someone out there may be listening.
42nd International games for children were held in San Francisco from July 10 to July 15 this year. There was a small contingent of children ages 12 to 16 that participated in these games from Lahore. As one of the boys was related to me so I had a chance to visit them in San Francisco. Before meeting them in person and spending three days with them I frankly had an impression that these kids were not serious athletes and just here to visit USA. I met three children who all got fourth position in their events ( 100M , 400M and long jump). Incidently they were all beaten by kids from China . That is pretty remarkable considering children from 70 cities world wide participated. I was very impressed to meet these young men and they all vowed to continue focus on their training and try to get college scholarships in USA. So far I have only met two people who have studied at a major USA University on a full Athletic Scholarship (one had a golf scholarship at USC another had a Tennis Scholarship at UC Irvine). In summary I can tell you that we have a lot of raw talent. Watching the Olympics reminds one that there are so many different sports which have so little commercial value but a gold medal is a gold medal. I guess we should focus on one of those categories. Who would be that first Pakistani to get an individual gold Medal?
I don’t think you need tens of billions of dollars at all.
You need strategy and some serious thinking about where we can be good. Look at Cuba, or Jamaica, or many other smaller countries that figure out their strengths and then invest real attention there.
If Squash and Cricket become Olympic sports that will make things more interesting right there.
But here are a few other sports where I think some investment of effort might pay up:
1. Boxing
2. Shooting
3. Weight-lifting
Tens of Billions of Dollars in Investment into world class Facilities with foreign coaches = Medals
Very difficult ask, since our country is at war.
JK, I agree that with better training and facilities our athletes can do better. But Sadaf Siddiqui was 7th in a field of 8 in what was only a Round 1 heat. So she was NOWHERE NEAR a winning time by a long stretch.
1 seconds in a 100m dash is an eternity. Its usually around 1/10th of what would be an Olympic gold winning time!
Are there higher resolution images available of the racers? Sadaf Siddiqui was only about 1 second behind the gold winner. The other racers are wearing aero-dynamic track suits while she is burdened with baggy air drag clothes. Also, notice the running form of the winners and our runner may not have received the best training and her form is not as proper as the others.
If Sadaf Siddiqui had a trainer than taught the most efficient running form and also had aerodynamic clothes then I have no doubt that she would have been the gold medalist.