Friday, January 21, 2011

Foreword: Reflections

By Lt Gen ® Syed Arif Hasan

Syed Khalid Mahmood’s views have the quality of honest opinions. He has a style of his own as far as writing is concerned. He is an engineer by education. This is not meant to cast aspersions on his credentials as a journalist but simply to suggest that he has had an option to make a living through other means but choose journalism. That may be one reason why he has been able to express his opinions far more freely.

‘Reflections’ is a collection of his articles published on his blog and I am certain that they would be read with even greater interest in book form. His blog in particular has done a great service to the cause of Pakistan sports because there had been negligible presence of our athletes on the web and this is one area that needs to be worked on more seriously.

I feel privileged to have been asked to write the foreword to his book. There were many marketable people around he could have turned to but he has acted out of friendship to let me have this honour.

Coming to the state of the affairs in the Pakistan sports arena, I must admit that the last few years have been very turbulent to say the least. The people as well as the powers that be had been expecting miracles from our athletes and administrators without necessary input.

We have had the dual responsibility of arresting the decline in the various disciplines besides meeting the challenges of professionalism. A lot has been expected from us without being extended the desired support.

The pressure has been on our national Olympic body and its affiliated federations to deliver against the heaviest of odds. We have done our level best to produce the results, having brought glories for the nation. We would like to do it more often because we are aware that ours is a sporting country and the conquests and triumphs of our teams are celebrated with the greatest of enthusiasm.

I hope that all the stake-holders would join hands in accomplishing the mutual objective of giving our people something to cheer about on a regular basis. An integrated approach is the need of the hour in the national interest.

The people of Pakistan deserve the best. The plans have to be worked out and be implemented in letter and spirit. We have to shoulder the responsibility collectively to develop an infrastructure that could keep on throwing talent.

I am sure that this book will serve as a valuable resource for the athletes, coaches, administrators, organizers, and people associated with sports in any form. I would encourage all of you to get a copy of your own in order to contribute your bit for the promotion of book culture in our country.

I look forward to reading Khalid Mahmood’s articles once more in ‘Reflections’ although I have gone through most of them online. I wish him all the best.

***For further details about Reflections, please write to jumbopublishing@yahoo.com or call Asad Raza at 0333-2304024

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