Inam plans to make athletes commission more effective

PESHAWAR: Two-time beach wrestling world champion and World Beach Games gold medallist Mohammad Inam plans to make the athletes commission of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) more effective so that it could serve national athletes in the best possible way.“Our athletes have enormous problems which need to be resolved. I plan to make the POA’s athletes commission more effective by inducting representatives from each federation,” Inam told ‘The News’ in an interview here on the sideline of the 33rd National Games wrestling competitions at Qayyum Sports Complex.“Initially I did not know exactly what my task as the chairman of the athletes commission was. I have come to know a lot about my responsibilities after attending a couple of international programmes,” said Inam, who also got gold in the 33rd National Games.“Our athletes need to be taught what their training and diet plans should be like,” the two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist said. “Currently we have only six members in athletes commission and we want to have more, ideally one person from each federation so that all sports disciplines could be covered and problems of the players could be resolved,” said Inam, who recently won World Beach Games gold in Doha.“We want to safeguard players’ future. Players even have no medical cover when they get injured and sometimes injuries destroy their careers. We want to plan for them certain programmes so that they could earn their livelihood through that after their retirement,” he said.About his chances in the 13th South Asian Games, Inam said that he would get benefit of his current form and international experience. “You know no state-sponsored camp has been held as yet. We don’t know whether there is to be any official camp after the National Games,” Inam said.South Asian Games are slated to be held in Nepal’s cities of Kathmandu and Pokhara from December 1-10. Inam said he also wants to feature in the 2020 Olympics qualifiers but there was no support. “For the last couple of years I have been saying that we should be properly trained for the Olympic qualifiers. I myself, Mohammad Bilal and Youth Olympics bronze medallist Inayatullah have the potential to qualify for Olympics but no one listens to me. It is the responsibility of the government to back us for such high-profile events. We have now just a few months left before the Asian Championships in China which would act as Olympics qualifying round,” Inam said.“I have won several medals for Pakistan. Here in National Games I won two fights within less than one minute and then in the final my opponent withdrew. I need training with the world’s best. And for that purpose we need foreign training tours to states like Georgia, Iran and the United States,” Inam said.He said that Pakistan direly needs a foreign coach. “You know we need a foreign coach who could train our lot on modern footings,” Gujranwala-born Inam said.He was satisfied with the talent which he witnessed in the National Games. “I saw some youngsters here, particularly of Higher Education Commission (HEC). They beat such wrestlers who have been playing for years and have been national champions. From my own club a bunch of highly talented youngsters showed that they need proper patronage to develop,” Inam said.He said the government should get full benefit of the sports MoUs which it has signed with different countries.“Our MoUs only last for a few days when they are in headlines. We should properly capitalise on such opportunities which could benefit our athletes,” Inam said.

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