Indo-Pak sporting diplomacy

Lt Gen. retd Arif Hassan, president of the Pakistan Olympic Association, in an impassioned presentation during the International Forum on Sport For Peace and the Olympic Truce in Ancient Olympia, held from May 19 to 21, spoke of how the Olympic associations of India and Pakistan were looking beyond the much-hyped cricket diplomacy.

He expressed his dreams of having a marathon traversing Kashmir, taking heart from the fact that sporting exchanges between the two countries have more often than not garnered huge public support and interest. He spoke of the success of the SAF Games in Islamabad in 2004 when the Indian contingent were given warm welcome and he added to his list the number of times Indian and Pakistani hockey, polo, tennis and squash teams had visited each other.

Asked how the NOCs of the two countries looked at the powerful cricket boards who are independent of them, Lt Gen. Hassan said he would like to follow their example to improve the condition of other sports.