Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) has confirmed that it will participate in both the Olympic Qualifiers. In their bid for a Tokyo berth, it has its eyes set on the two qualification tournaments. The governing body is yet to receive an official confirmation from the United World Wrestling (UWW) about the qualifiers but has reiterated its commitment that it will field its grapplers in both the Asian and world qualifiers.
“We have not yet received anything from UWW about the qualifiers but we plan to field our wrestlers in both the qualifying rounds whenever they are held,” PWF Secretary Arshad Sattar told Pakistan news daily ‘The News’.
Both the qualifying rounds were postponed byUWW due to the Coronavirus pandemic and have been rescheduled to next year.
On Thursday, the Pakistan wrestler Mohammad Inam said that he has his eyes on the world qualifying round, saying it will be seen how much help he receives.
“Yes, intention is there to flex muscles in the world qualifiers. I am training in whatever way I can. Let’s see when these would be rescheduled and whatever help I get for preparation,” the two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist said.
The biggest issue Pakistan’s Olympics prospects face is the shortage of money, as per the report. There is no money with any federation as the government has not released funds to national federations for past two years.
Federations handling individual sports still do something by ensuring a token participation of their athletes in international events but it has become a herculean task for team sports federations to ensure their teams’ participation in any international competition.
“You know wrestling has been the most productive discipline over the years having won most of the international medals the nation has got but we are not being helped,” he said.
Inam was the sole gold medallist for Pakistan in the 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia.
This was his second gold in the event after the Gujranwala-born grappler had secured his first gold in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. Wrestlers Tayyab Raza and Mohammad Bilal claimed bronze in Australia. The only two other bronze which Pakistan won in Gold Coast were won by weightlifters Nooh Dastgir Butt and Talha Talib.
Having won a couple of world beach wrestling titles in Turkey in 2017 and 2018, Inam last year also clinched his first World Beach Games gold.
“During the last two years the IPC minister Dr. Fehmida Mirza has completely destroyed Pakistan’s sports. Her stance of not supporting federations and the country’s leading players has left me utterly frustrated. It has brought the whole sports to a standstill,” Arshad said.
Despite having won medals at major competitions, Inam did not receive reward and this thing is leaving a bad impact on players as a whole.
“It’s really agonising. The government policies have left us with no option to make a plan for any big event,” Arshad said.
“This is not the way to run sports. Treating the country’s top sports discipline like this is unbearable,” he said.
In the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal last year, all Pakistani wrestlers claimed medals, finishing with three gold and four silvers.
Last month Inam had told ‘The News’ that because of no support from the state he has stopped giving interviews to media about his Olympics dreams.
