KARACHI: The Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) is reeling under financial crunch as it is yet to receive a major chunk of the monetary assistance promised by the government and corporate sector for the conduction of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto International Boxing tournament, which was held here earlier this month.
“Our total cost over the tournament was over Rs60 to 70 million. We were expecting Rs40 million from the federal government and Rs 30 million from the corporate sector. But so far we have received only Rs20.3 million from the Prime Minister.
The Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had promised to extend financial support but so far we have received no response from him in spite of repeated attempts,” said president of the PBF Doda Khan Bhutto during a press conference here on Friday.
Also present on the occasion were the secretary of the PBF Muhammad Akram Khan and the vice-president Iqbal Hussain.
He said that he is also thankful to the president of the NWFP Boxing Association Waqar Maroof who has helped the federation by giving it Rs50,000.
“The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) had also promised one million rupees and though the Board has not released it as yet but we are hopeful that it will do so within few days,” the president said.
“We had to bear the burden by paying the mighty bills from our own pockets as the PBF had nothing in its kitty. Financially, the federation is in serious trouble and we appeal to the federal government, Sindh government, President of Pakistan and City District Government Karachi (CDKG) that they should extend their financial assistance and the summary which have been sent by the Sindh Sports Minister Dr Muhammad Ali Shah to the Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah should be approved, so that the grant could be released on emergency basis,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the secretary of the PBF Akram Khan said that the PBF have recorded protest to the organising committee of the South Asian Games for the unreasonable reshuffling in the weight categories by removing 75kg, 91kg and 91kg plus from the list while inducting 48kg and 60kg, restricting the competitions in the eight-nation event to six instead of the earlier seven.
He said the removal of heavy weights is a big blow for Pakistan as the country had a great chance to grab a few gold medals in these weights.
He has also informed the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) that the new sudden changes in the weight categories could minimise Pakistan’s medals chances in the SAG which would be held from January 29 to February 9 in Bangladesh.
In the end, on behalf of the PBF he thanked media, police, traffic police, Rangers, Interior Ministry, Exterior Ministry, the POA chief, the federal sports minister, the federal minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination, the federal secretary sports etc for giving their support in the smooth conduction of the event.
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