For someone who covered the 4th South Asian Federation Games in Islamabad in 1989, there is a big change in the city now. People are much more warm and hospitable — even when it’s not cricket. A day before the ninth edition of the Games begin in the Pakistani capital, there is a renewed air of friendship, generated by the ongoing cricket series sweeping across the city.Unfortunately, there are no stars to be mobbed. Most of the top athletes in the region have given the Games a miss. There is no Anju George, no Beenamol or K M Binu of Busan Asiad fame. But a strong Indian media connection to the Games has made up for their absence.Back home, not many know that at least 100-odd Indian TV journalists and technicians will be on hand — hired by PTV and Geo TV to bring live pictures of the Games to their homes in the country. Winning hearts, as suggested by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has gone deep as far as the SAF Games are concerned.The chairman of the Games organising committee is looking ahead with optimism. ‘‘We have to work to renew contact in other sports also,’’ Lt-Gen Syed Arif Hasan told The Indian Express. Gen Hasan has recently taken over as President of the Pakistan Olympic Association and feels the old Indo-Pak athletics can be revived for a start.Flying Sikh Milkha Singh’s historic wins over Pakistani sprinter late Abdul Khalique in Lahore are still in the folklore of sub continent’s sport. Later, even P T Usha successfully participated in Pakistan’s National Games in Lahore in 1979.Had an aggressive electronic media existed in the 1970s, it would have made headlines when Milkha met Khalique, a POW of the 1971 War. Incidentally, Khalique was not worried about his own fate in captivity in Meerut. All he wanted was a meeting with Milkha, which the authorities granted.As one was going down memory lane with Gen Hassan, a man with a slight limp and receding hairline appeared on the scene and waxed nostalgic in his own tales. He was none other than former Pakistani middle distance star Mohd Yunus. ‘‘Has Sri Ram Singh come,’’ he asked?A contemporary of the Indian Olympian, Yunus fondly remembered his days with Sri Ram. ‘‘I ran in three Asian Games with Sri Ram. he was a great runner and a great man,’’ he recalled. Indian hammer and discus champion Praveen Kumar and middle distance runner Edward Sequeria were the Indian athletes in his list.Through all the hectic activity,. there was a sense of humour and bonhomie. When journalists asked for the list of participants, Lt Col Muhammad Yahya, technical director for the Games, had his answer ready. ‘‘Your own people have not yet given the names to us and you are asking for the list,’’ he said, to a burst of laughter.
