LAHORE
\nThe Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) will not prevent the country\u2019s Olympic association from conducting its upcoming polls despite having raised concerns over its electoral college, PSB director general Yasir Peerzada said on Friday.
\nA day earlier, the PSB had announced that it had written a letter to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), seeking the removal of anomalies in the process of the Dec 30 POA elections.
\n\u201cThe POA has to respond to the questions that the PSB has raised over its electoral college that has been announced for the elections,\u201d Yasir said during a meeting with the members of the Sports Journalists Association of Lahore.
\nYasir said the POA didn\u2019t have its constitution published on its website until recently the PSB raised objections over it.
\nThe PSB chief defended the body\u2019s decision to oversee elections of the national sports federations, claiming that the move shouldn\u2019t be termed as interference in their affairs.
\n\u201cI have asked the national sports federations if they felt that the PSB had interfered in their affairs and none of them raised any such concerns,\u201d said Yasir.
\nThe DG PSB shrugged off the notion that the body had been at loggerheads with the POA and the national sports federations \u2014 especially through the introduction of the 2005 National Sports Policy \u2014 and that it was why the country had been left behind in sports.
\nThe PSB recently amended its constitution to establish an Election Commission responsible for overseeing elections within national sports federations and addressing any objections to candidate nominations. However, Yasir was adamant that the PSB\u2019s role would remain non-interfering.
\n\u201cWe are not intruding in the federations\u2019 internal matters; our aim is to ensure transparency in the election process. To that end, the PSB has introduced a code of conduct for federations,\u201d Yasir explained.
\nHe also highlighted the varying levels of compliance among federations with regard to reporting their financial expenditures.
\n\u201cSome federations have submitted their expenditure details from government grants, while others have not. We plan to make this information public on our website soon,\u201d he confirmed.
\nYasir stressed that the office-bearers of federations must first seek private funding before requesting government assistance.
\nAddressing the issue of sports infrastructure in the country, Yasir refuted the widespread perception that Pakistan lacked adequate sports facilities.
\n\u201cThere are hundreds of sports stadiums, even at the tehsil level,\u201d he stated. \u201cThe real challenge is not the infrastructure, but the lack of substantial talent emerging from these facilities.\u201d
\nThe DG also reaffirmed the government\u2019s commitment to the Lausanne Agreement signed with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2015. \u201cWe fully respect the agreement, and the POA must adhere to it as well,\u201d Yasir said.
\nThe longstanding conflict between the PSB and the POA, which nearly led to Pakistan\u2019s suspension from the IOC between 2012 and 2015, was also mentioned. Following these tensions, the government stepped back in 2015, recognising the POA as an independent body operating under the IOC charter. However, the PSB has once again found itself in conflict with national sports federations, prompting warnings from the IOC to avoid further escalation.
\nOn the topic of team selection, Yasir emphasised that federations must adopt a merit-based approach when selecting athletes for international competitions. He also clarified that federations affiliated with the PSB must obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) before sending teams abroad. Federations not affiliated with the PSB, he said, would not be permitted to use Pakistan\u2019s name in international competitions without clearance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAHORE The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) will not prevent the country\u2019s Olympic association from conducting its upcoming polls despite having raised concerns over its electoral college, PSB director general Yasir Peerzada said on Friday. A day earlier, the PSB had announced that it had written a letter to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), seeking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384820,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-450896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n