President Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBF) Asif Bajwa vowed to make all out efforts to revive basketball in the country on Tuesday. In a statement, he said the country had a lot of basketball talent and it only needs to be put in the right direction.
“Basketball is a popular among youngsters,” he said. “But we haven’t seen Pakistan moving forward in the sport over the last few years. Scarcity of funds or lack of financial support has been a major hurdle. We are working on the issue and hopefully things will change for the better.” Bajwa said organizing national level tournaments was not enough to promote basketball. “We have to ensure that like other sports basketball players also have the incentive to wear the national colours in international competitions,” the PBBF chief said. “We are having the 50th Men’s National Championship from May 26 in Islamabad. As many as 20 probables will be selected from the tournament for camp training in preparation for the 26th FIFA Asia Championship for Middle Asia Zone in New Delhi (India).” Bajwa said the federation also plans to hold inter-club championships in Lahore, Hyderabad and Islamabad next month. Boys’ and girls’ junior tournaments will also be organised