PSB committee decides Ushna doesn’t merit civil award

KARACHI: A committee of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has declared that Ushna Suhail, a tennis player, does not qualify for the conferment of civil award.Ushna had submitted an appeal to the Secretary of Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) for conferment of Civil Award on her.The ministry referred the case to the PSB for comments in the matter.The Director General PSB through an office order constituted a committee on November 9 to look into the matter. The committee had Mansoor Ahmed Khan, PSB’s DDG (Administration) as its convener. Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) secretary Gul Rehman and former Davis Cup player Hamid-ul-Haq were the other members.The terms of references (ToRs) of the committee were to assess the credentials of the player; to verify the claim of the player on the basis of documentary evidence, credentials and other relevant material; and to comment whether the player qualifies to be recommended for the conferment of civil award.The committee was asked to submit its recommendation to the PSB. The committee held a meeting on December 11.PSB’s Deputy Director General (Technical) and Assistant Director (NF) Shad Ayaz were present on special invitation of the committee.According to the minutes, available with ‘The News’, the committee perused the available record of the player and thorough deliberations were made on the issue.After thorough discussions, the committee decided that the player deserves only 52 marks as per her existing profile and so does not qualify for the conferment of Civil Award. It said she won only two bronze medals in the South Asian Games held in India in 2016.It is pertinent to mention here that Sohail Khawaja, father of Ushna, was also called by the committee to explain his point of view in the matter.Sohail claimed that the quantification pro forma was faulty and needed rectification so that the players were not deprived of the extra points.He insisted on awarding grace marks to Ushna to make her eligible for the civil award, but the committee said it was beyond its mandate. Meanwhile, a source told this scribe that Ushna’s father, being an advisor of PTF, was trying to use his influence to get her daughter this prestigious award. “PSB should not have constituted this committee as never in the history was such a committee formed for recommendation of civil awards,” said the source.

from The News International - Sports https://ift.tt/2A4m7y6