LAHORE: Pakistani athlete Najma Parveen, who bowed out in less than half a minute in a disappointing manner in the Olympics 2020, wasn’t fit to participate in the mega sports event.
Reports in local media cited that a letter of Athletics Federation of Pakistan, the authority that promotes and develop the sport of athletics in Pakistan in accordance with the IAAF rules, disclosed that they alarmed Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) last month that ‘Najma wasn’t serious about her fitness and training for the Olympics’. It also suggested Pakistan Olympic Association to replace her for Tokyo Olympics 2020 as she didn’t complete all the prerequisites to compete in the mega sports event.
Despite the intimidation, the 31-year-old athlete [who also represents WAPDA] was sent for the 200m heat and subsequently, she finished last among all participants.
Following the poor performance in Olympics 2020, it was revealed that she never reported to the Athletics Federation of Pakistan after getting married. Besides this, the authorities sent an unqualified coach with her owing to personal PR.
The letter further reads that the Pakistan Sports Board organized a training camp in the Punjab capital at the request of the federation but Najma failed to appear despite repeated contacts. At the request of the federation, the sports board also approached Water & Power Development Authority.
Breaking News about Athlete Najma Parveen Unfit issue.
اتھلیٹکس فیڈریشن نے پاکستان سپورٹس بورڈ کو خط لکھ کر کہا تھا کہ نجمہ پروین کا فٹنس ایشو تھا شادی کے بعد انکو کہیں نہیں دیکھا. پاکستان اولمپک ایسوسی ایشن نے وائلڈ کارڈ انٹری پر نجمہ کو بھیجا@NOCPakistan #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/THo6K0M5Ny— Qadir Khawaja (@iamqadirkhawaja) August 2, 2021
WAPDA responded to the sports authority that the Pakistani sprinter was training in hometown Faisalabad under the supervision of a department coach. The letter further reads that WAPDA didn’t mention the coach under which she got the training. The training could not be monitored as well, it said.
According to the letter, the Pakistan Olympic Association changed the qualified coach of the federation and gave responsibilities to the coach of WAPDA, which was a violation of the constitution of the federation. Najma Parveen performed well in the South Asian Games 2019, but after her marriage, she shows non-serious behavior.
Athletics Federation of Pakistan further alleged that the Pakistan Olympic Association was only interested in sending her to the Olympics because of a favorite coach and was unnecessarily interfering in the affairs of the Athletics Federation.
Pakistani sprinter ran in heat 2 of women’s 200m and finished last among 7 and that’s with poor timings of 28.12.
Najma Parveen of Pakistan stood 7th in 2nd Heat of 200m clocking 28.12, whereas her best time is 23.59s. Truly a dismal performance. It looked as if she was going through the motions & had given up hope even before the start. #TokyoOlympics2020 pic.twitter.com/uov4frbc35
— Abdul Majeed Khan Marwat (@koolkopper) August 2, 2021
The poor training besides the dilapidated federation system is one of the reasons for the performance as earlier the girl bagged six gold medals in 2019. She also won a silver in women’s 200m and gold in 400m hurdles at the South Asian Games.
Najma also represented Pakistan at the Rio Olympics in the women’s 200m race and couldn’t advance after completing the race in 26.11 seconds.
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