© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
In a turn of events for Arshad Nadeem, Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has revoked the ban on his long-time coach Salman Butt after he was banned by Pakistan Amateur Athletics Federation (PAAF) last month.
Senator Pervez Rashid was appointed as adjudicator after coach Salman Butt took his plea to the PSB and the Pakistan Olympic Committee (POC)
The senator said on Monday he was overturning the ban on Butt as the action by the PAAF was unconstitutional.
He said there was a complete lack of due process, noting that no charge sheet or proper hearing was ever provided to Butt. He also called on the PAAF to immediately withdraw all adverse notes and communications sent to international bodies and said Butt can continue to remain Nadeem’s coach and represent Pakistan on the world stage.
The ban was imposed after Nadeem finished 10th in the World Athletics Championships. On returning home after the tournament, the coach was told by PSB and PAAF to submit a report on why Nadeem performed poorly.
In his report, Butt said Nadeem struggled in the Worlds because of health issues as he was still recovering from a calf muscle surgery carried out in July, while also making it clear that the PAAF had had no role to play in his career and distanced itself from the Olympic gold medallist javelin thrower in the last one year.
“Arshad’s performance was hampered by the surgery he underwent for his calf muscle problem and in Tokyo the track was hard and the weather hot and humid and this affected performances of many athletes in different events,” Iqbal said in his reply, disclosing that the Pakistan Amateur Athletics Federation had for the last one year or so disassociated itself from anything to do with Nadeem.
The reply from Butt didn’t go down well with the athletics federation, which decided to impose the life ban, alleging that he had violated the constitution as president of the Punjab athletics body.
The Pakistan Olympic Committee gave special clearance to Butt to accompany Nadeem to Riyadh for the recent Islamic Solidarity Games where the star athlete won the gold medal in javelin throw.
