The Pakistan Olympic association sent Pakistan’s smallest ever delegation to the Olympics in Rio De Jeneiro Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016, as the men’s field hockey failed to qualify for the first time in a non-boycott Olympic edition. A total of seven athletes, four men and three women, were selected to the Pakistani team across four different sports. All of them had gained their Olympic entries, either through Tripartite Commission invitations or quota spots.
In a total of 28 sporting categories being offered in the Olympics, Pakistan could only manage to to send players for three categories. This either indicates that either Pakistan doesn’t have athletes or the Government is not interested in sports.
However, groups of performers who call themselves “Baazigar’s” have been entertaining villagers for centuries by displaying extraordinary gymnastics to the villagers. The sheer athleticism on display at these performances shows that Pakistan’s dismal representation at the Olympics is not a comment on lack of talent but lack of government patronage.
One such group of Baazigars can be seen performing in the following video in a village Chachkay Gill located in District Nankana Sahib.
This video displays the talents of just one group of “Baazigars”, whereas every area has their own group of Baazigars who train to entertain big crowds in the rural areas of the country for a living. Their performance shows their expertise in the field and shows us a promising future if the government provides them with state of the art training facilities and instructors.