ISLAMABAD: The 36th meeting of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Governing Board held in Islamabad called for resetting the sports development budget considering the growing demand of athletes training and preparation on most modern lines.
The PSB non-development budget from where athletes and federations get their share in peanuts stands at around Rs 1.2 billion. Majority of the funds goes on the administrative expenditures with just three to four percent being spent on the federations’ grant and athletes promotion.
The meeting that was chaired by the Advisor to PM on Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) has requested for an increase of around three hundred percent in the finance mainly to meet the demands of athletes training and participation on modern lines. It is proposed that the budget may be increased to Rs 3.82 billion in order to meet the growing international requirements when it comes to athletes training, coaching, promotion and federations grant.
“The matter will be forwarded to the Prime Minister with a request for enhancement,” a source privy to the meeting confirmed. Meanwhile, the PSB Executives have approved the much awaited Rs 8.2 million meant to the junior volleyball team that finished runner up in the Asian meet. The PSB withheld the amount on the pretext that all players who competed in the Asian event must go under wrest test for age scrutiny. The sanity finally prevailed as the majority of the members were of the opinion that such a clause has never been part of the PSB constitution. Such an age scrutiny is a sole responsibility of the respective federation. The House decided to release the amount which will be awarded to the volleyball players as per the policy.
