ISLAMABAD - Male and female athletes nominated by their respective federations for the prestigious Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto (BB) Sports Awards for the year 2012 are waiting anxiously for the announcement from IPC but nothing has emerged despite a lapse of a few months, an insider source confided to this scribe on condition of anonymity.
He said that the committee headed by Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Director General Amir Hamza Gilani with representative of POA Abdul Khaliq Khan and federations’ representation was done by Pakistan Kabbadi Federation Secretary Rana M Sarwar after going through all the recommendations sent by various federations had finalised the names of a male and a female athletes for these awards in a transparent manner. A total of 10 male and seven female players names were forwarded by the federations for the final approval, which include football, netball, taekawando, hockey, judo/karate and mountaineering federations.
The awards carry rupees one million cash prize in each category and in 2011, they were given to hockey player Rehan Butt (male) and Nasim Hameed (female).
The awards encourage other athletes to work hard to get nomination for the ultimate prizes.
The awards were named after two great personalities and if these awards are not distributed during PPP government then how it will be possible that the next government will continue this tradition.
When the committee had sanctioned and forwarded report well in time then it is the duty of the IPC to investigate the matter and find out where the fault lies and who is responsible for using delaying tactics.
It is very injustice that players perform and work day and night to bring laurels for the country but they were denied their due rights by the bureaucracy.
PSB/IPC Minister for Sports must look into the matter and take personal interest to find out reason for delay.
The PSB committee members had done a tremendous job of finalising the names well in time then there is no reason for delay as players have every right to seek an answer from the concerned authorities or institutions.