KARACHI: As other nations accelerate their preparations to win more medals than others, Pakistan Olympic Association and Pakistan Sports Board are meanwhile at loggerheads over who will carry the national flag at the opening ceremony of the games.
Pakistan Sports Board had put forward Judoka Shah Hussain Shah?s name for the purpose, but Pakistan Olympic Association in the last moments finalised shooter Ghulam Mustafa Bashir as the flag-bearer.
Shah Hussain Shah has four international medals to his name, whereas Ghulam Mustafa has only one international medal.
Shaukat Javed, Head of Mission for the Pakistan contingent in Rio de Janeiro who is also vice president of the Pakistan Olympic Association, said Ghulam Mustafa trains in Pakistan all year round and participates in national sporting events.
Shah Hussain Shah, in contrast, resides in Japan, which is why Pakistan Olympic Association decided to bestow him the honour of bearing the national flag, the Head of Mission said.
Controversy over carrying of the national flag had erupted once before at Commonwealth Games in 2010, when the then Sports Minister had carried the flag and led the Pakistani contingent instead of wrestler Shujauddin Malik, who was originally supposed to be the flag-bearer at the opener.
The Pakistan Olympic Association and Pakistan Sports Board have a history of bad blood. Pakistan Olympic Association has also had conflicts with the Pakistan Judo Federation in the past.
For the first time, Pakistan?s Olympic contingent will be without the hockey team; hence the tradition of the hockey team captain being the contingent?s flag-bearer will not be met.
Pakistan's campaign in Rio Olympics will commence on 6th August when two of the country?s athletes will be in action at the games.
The first Pakistani athlete to be in action at Rio will be the shooter Minhal Sohail, who will participate in qualification rounds of 10m Air Rifle event for women, which is scheduled to commence at 4:30pm PST.
Also on Saturday, swimmer Haris Banday will jump in the pool for his 400m freestyle heats.
Shah Hussain Shah will fight his first bout on 11th August. He is participating in 100kg weight category of Judo competition.
Ghulam Mustafa Bashir, participating in 25m Rapid Fire Pistol competition, will be in action on 12th August.
Swimmer Lianna Swan will also be in action on the same day for the heats in the women?s 25m freestyle category.
Sprinter Mahboob Ali will run for the heats in the men's 400m on August 13th, while Najma Parveen will compete in the women's 200m heats on 15th August.
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