ISLAMABAD - The sub-committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Sports recommended that the federal government should not interfere in the affairs of sports federations and there was a need to revise the national sports policy. The committee met on Thursday here at Parliament House under its chairman Senator Muhammad Enver Baig, which was also attended by its two members Senator Tariq Azeem and Tahir Mushadi. The house openly discussed the poor performance of national athletes in the 29th Olympics Games 2008, which were held in the Beijing, China from August 8 to 24. Baig said in his concluding remarks that Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) should select popular sports for promotion to get positive results in the international competitions and national game hockey should be preferred. "There should be no political interference in the sports organisations and all the stakeholders including PSB, POA and Ministry of Sports should make joint efforts for the promotion of sports. The annual sports budget should be enhanced to streamline the affairs of sports in the country," he added. Earlier, president Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), Lt. Gen Syed Arif Hasan gave a detail briefing to the members of the house and pointed out the causes of poor show in Beijing. "We were better at Asia level but by the end of 80s and early 90s, our sports began to slump and we reached 4th position in the South Asian level competitions, "he added. "However, now we are moving up as Pakistan stood second in the 9th South Asian Games 2004 with 38 gold medals and we maintained same position in 2006 at Colombo with 41 gold medals. Pakistan were at 4th position in the 8th edition of this regional sports gala, which was held in Nepal," he elaborated. Arif said that they were eyeing the youth to achieve performance in future. "Our junior teams are doing well, squash team won the world junior team event championship. Our volleyball team qualified for the world cup for the first time in history. Badminton players are also showing good performance in prestigious international events," he said. The POA chief further said that they needed financial help to meet world standards. "As we injected money in sports, we got positive results. There should be top level coaching facilities, "he said. "Hockey was the only ray of hope in Beijing Games but they failed. In other sports we had got wild card entries and it was not possible for national outfits to win medals as they were merely representing Pakistan to show other 203 nations that Pakistan is also a country," he added. Arif suggested that athletes should be given proper jobs to overcome their financial worries. "The departments should ask to reopen their sports wings. Unfortunately, the government and all top national organisations are not giving any priority to sports, "he lamented. Federal Minister for Sports Najamuddin Khan said at this occasion that the government would revise national sports policy and it would be made implementable. "We will also get the in put from the national sports federation, officials of POA and other stakeholders to formulate a new sports policy, "he added. Besides Federal Minister for Sports Najamuddin Khan, Secretary Muhammad Ashraf Khan, Joint Secretary Muhammad Anwar Khan, President POA Lt. Gen (Retd) Syed Arif Hasan, Vice President POA Choudhary Muhammad Yaqoob, Director General PSB Amir Hamza Gilani, Associate Secretary POA Col (Retd) Muhammad Yahya, Finance Secretary POA Major (Retd) Muhammad Afzal and Director Finance, Pakistan Sports Trust Col (Retd) Muhammad Azhar Deen also attended the meeting that took around three hours.