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- Title
PAKISTAN'S OLYMPIC QUEST: DE COLONISING SPORT, OIC INTERVENTION, AND LOWERING THE THRESHOLD OF ELIGIBILITY.
- Authors
Akhtar, Zia
- Abstract
The results in the Olympic Games of 2016 in Rio for some under developed nations were abysmal and they failed to register on the medal table. There is no better example than Pakistan which is a country with a population of 180 million many of whom are physically virile owing to the rugged lands of their birth in the subcontinent but are unable to translate their strength into sporting glory. The Pakistani team in Rio Olympics attended with more government officials than sportsmen in their contingent totalling 16. The absurdity of this imbalance is increased by the fact that they were all wild card entries and none of the athletes qualified for the Games on merit. The reasons include the economic problems confronting the country that have effected its participation in sports events and led to isolation because of fear of militant attacks. This paper concentrates on the attention given to cricket in Pakistan that has caused other sports to be ignored and exposes the colonial link with the imperial legacy from the British Raj. It casts the spotlight on the International Olympic Committee which has international legal personality and argues that OIC should activate the Solidarity Commission to assist Pakistani sportsmen and end their isolation and elevate their standard of performance. The qualification criteria under the Nationality Law 41 for sportsmen who are not citizens of the country needs to be revised to facilitate the participation from the diaspora and motivate them to provide Pakistan an opportunity for harnessing Sporting Excellence.
- Subjects
OLYMPIC Games (31st : 2016 : Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); ATHLETICS laws; INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee (IOC); DECOLONIZATION; ATHLETES
- Publication
International Sports Law Review Pandektis, 2017, Vol 12, Issue 1/2, p161
- ISSN
1109-3943
- Publication type
Article