April issue 2010

Sports, it is said, isn’t a matter of life and death. It is far more important than that. The outpouring of grief over the state of Pakistan’s recent sports performances proves that adage true.

In a country where no politician ever holds himself accountable for his mistakes by honourably resigning, the entire field hockey team announced their retirement in a show of contrition after finishing in last place at the World Cup. A string of disastrous performances by the cricket team led to a host of bans and fines. And squash is in such doldrums that the average Pakistani would be hard pressed to name a single player.

This drift has been a long time coming. The occasional flashes of brilliance — like the T20 World Championship win last year — have obscured years of mismanagement, ad-hocism, nepotism and inefficiency. It is important to look back at the controversies that have plagued Pakistani sports to see where it all went wrong.

It is even more important, though, to figure out how to change things for the better. The past is prologue. It is important to study it only to learn lessons for the future. Only then can the slow death of Pakistani sports be prevented.

Click on any article to read more:

Cricket:

• Searching for Solutions
• An Ex-Player Speaks
• Interview: Siraj-ul-Islam Bukhari of the Karachi Cricket Association
• Cleaned Bowled

Field Hockey:

• Hockey in the Doldrums
• The Experts Speak
• Past Scandals
• Interview: Qasim Zia of the Pakistan Hockey Federation

Squash:

• Squashed
• Interview: Aamir Atlas Khan