The 10-day SAF Games ended rather successfully for Pakistan and the organisers as no untoward incident took place though earlier there were fears of the militants striking at the venues like the Munich Olympiad of 1972. The closing ceremony was a splendour of fireworks and other cultural items worth witnessing and enjoying.
Though the spectators were not large in number at most of the indoor and outdoor venues yet comparatively they were bigger than the viewers of the cricket Tests. This shows the interests that the athletes, the sportsmen and women are taking in their own disciplines and games, which under no circumstance, can be ignored. The government has to set apart more funds for various sports besides cricket and hockey and the associations and federations should take the cue from cricket to establish academies and organise training in a more systematic way.
One never thought that football, a game going down the hill in this country and in which the federation office-bearers are having a tiff, would bring laurels to the side. The schedule of the final was set early in the morning and by better mobility, aesthetics and athleticism Pakistan brought down India after the scores were locked or deadlock when the whistle was blown at the regulation time.
The determined defence never gave in to the Indian sallies and at long last the sharp shooting Pakistanis carried the morning to the thrill of their supporters present at the Islamabad Sports Complex, at such an odd hour.
The game is ready for its revival and it is time for the organisers and the promoters to chalk out plans for this cheapest game to spike up.
Nobody knows why the hockey federation did not press for the inclusion of the game at the Islamabad extravaganza when Rawalpindi had all the facilities and infrastructure for staging the event. The fans missed the thrill of an enjoyable tussle in this high-velocity fare on synthetic surface.
Pakistan, as expected, had the lion's share of medals in the martial art. It was delightful to behold the Pakistani competitors ascending the podium, one after the other, to take accolades in weightlifting, wrestling and best of all in boxing in which ten out of 11 gold medals were earned by Pakistan. It was not that the home pugilists were more brawny or powerful. They were swifter on feet and landed their punches right on target. Strenuous training round the year paid the dividends.
Prof. Anwar Choudhry always called for more funds, building of indoor gymnasia and stressed on the need of competitive training. No opportunity was lost to send the selectees to foreign meets, particularly to the Central Asian Republics and Philippines. The fisticuffs in lands abroad provided the home fighters with new technique and methodology. If there were hard blows, the defence too was always ready to absorb the punches of the adversary. Not only the fit boxers of the army measured strength with the entries from regional nations but competitors from the poor areas of Karachi, Lyari, too showed their potentials and impressed all and sundry at the Jinnah Complex.
Can the Pakistani pugilists repeat their performance in the upcoming Athens Olympics this year. The fans of this martial art are hopeful that their style, their quickness in the ring and their defence-cum-offence approach will help them in scaling the difficult stairs in Athens where the modern games were revived in 1896.
More surprising was the success in rowing, which made its debut at the ninth edition of the SAF Games. The followers and fans of rowing were present in large numbers at Rawal Lake to cheer the Pakistani winners, whose mode and method were admirable. The Pakistan Navy specialists gave full time to hone up the skill of the home rowers and the trainers should be given full credit for the country's success in this newly-introduced discipline.
If the home shooters failed to make their mark and the Indian entrants shone by taking away most of the gold medals Pakistan, much in accord with the expectation, had the gold of squash in their bag with comfortable case.
Certainly there was setback in kabaddi, volleyball and swimming, where the Indians proved their superiority by better skill, assurance and planned approach to the game.
In badminton and table tennis the Indians were head and shoulders above their rivals and had a sweepaway victory.
In the women's disciplines Pakistan was much behind the Indians and the Sri Lankans. Maybe the organisations here are inactive, maybe the women in this country are shy to take part in what are essentially men's games. The Indian women garned a large number of gold, silver and bronze medals to boost the medal tally of their country.
In athletics Pakistan improved on its score of two gold medals in Kathmandu in 1999.
The discipline of athletics is an important one and would be taken up later in a separate piece.
The games helped in enhancing the friendship - sporting and otherwise - among the Regional States. And this was the main gain from the regional fiesta.
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