Manager of the Pakistan one-man swimming team, Zoraiz Lashari said on Wednesday that participation in London Olympics is an ideal opportunity for swimmer Israr Hussain to lift the level of his game to perform better in future events.
“Participation in Olympics is a big honour and a life time opportunity to show case talent and potential and I firmly believe Israr is going to make best use of this chance,” he told this scribe before leaving with the team for London on Wednesday morning. Not only the swimming team but the whole Pakistan contingent left on Wednesday for London.
Lashari is managing the male swimmer while Fatima Lakhani is the manager of the only female swimmer Anam Bandy who is already in London.
Pakistan swimmers though could not qualify for London Olympics due to poor standards of swimming but they are participating in the mega event on wild cards granted by the International Olympic Committee to encourage them.
“It is a bitter reality that our simmers are not at par with the international standards of qualifying for the Olympics and participation through wild card will definitely add to their confidence and to motivate them to do better in their future endeavours,” said Lashari, a former national captain.
He said Pakistan swimmers (both male and female) are the threshold of an opportunity to learn modern day swimming technique and to benefit themselves from the experience of other participants while competing in the heats (qualifying rounds) of Olympics. Lashari said that the heats will be held in the morning while the finals of the category will be held in the evening.
Israr will be testing his skills in 100-metre freestyle while Anam will be competing in 400m individual medley and their chances to make to the second heat appear slim.
“Of course we cannot expect sterling performance on part of our swimmers as years long training and planning are required to train swimmers and then to expect medals,” he said. He further added: “It is a long process to train swimmers for major international events including Olympics and most modern countries are grooming their swimmers from very young age and by that way they are winning medals.”
Fatima Lakhani said the it is good omen that Pakistani swimmers are taking part in London Olympics as they have lesser opportunities to take part in such high profile events. “Wild card participation is a big encouragement to swimmers of such countries which are behind qualification standards and it is a big way of learning to improve their own national records and to aim high for future events,” she said.
Pakistan Olympian swimmers feel honoured
