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Closing Ceremony Speech Back To Main

Mr Syed Syed Shahid Ali, IOC Member, President PbOA, Chairman Organising Committee, Presidents and Secy Gens of all Federations, Mr Idris Haider Khawaja, secy Gen PbOA and Secy Organising Committee, Distinguished Guests, Honourable members of the Press, and most of all the pride of the Nation our distinguished athletes

Today as we approach the close of the National Games 2012, there is reason to look back with pride on our approach and on our achievements as the Olympic Family.

Under the all-inclusive umbrella of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), this Family consists of its constituents: national federations, provincial associations, member departments and the elaborate paraphernalia that filters down right to the club level which are home to our athletes.

Today we can take genuine pride on hosting these National Games 2012 despite denial of facilities and finances that make these the first such event that the Olympic Family has organized on its own.

This is the turning point, the game changer.

For too long we had remained looking for crutches of financial and other support. It was mostly denied to us, or at best given either condescendingly or grudgingly.

That too only enough so that we could at best crawl – never equipping us to stand on our feet, never allowing us to be able to thrive and run.

The moment the POA and the PbOA made the critical decision that we were going to hold the Games come what may, we liberated ourselves from the yoke that had pinned us down.

As a result, today as the Games are about to conclude and the Olympic Torch is about to be doused till we meet again in two years’ time, we stand proud and self-confident. All of us i.e. the athletes and the rest of the Olympic Family are the winners here.

We harbour no grudge against our detractors and antagonists. They perhaps thought that they can bring us down, that they can make us crumble.

Instead we, the Olympic Family resolved to rise and rise collectively.

We braved the odds but breasted the tape: we owe nothing to none for our organizational success in the enterprise of the National Games 2012.

As a consequence, we discovered something that no coffer in the world is rich enough to buy: a sense of self-worth and self-reliance that stems from doing it yourself, at your own steam.

For this we owe a debt of gratitude to our powerful antagonists too. May they always keep us on our toes, may they keep providing us the spur towards the lofty objective of sustainable excellence around the world’s stadia.

There are other successes too. To name just two: the Higher Education Commission and FATA coming of age. This is so palpable from their performances.

There cannot be anything better than the spread of sports in FATA, for it may be the harbinger of change – real change – for the better in that troubled of our country.

And since the HEC means the student community and youth participating, this again augurs well for us in once again becoming a truly multi-sport nation.

But above all this is a success of the Athletes and the National Federations. Take a bow each one of you, each single member of the National Federations and each of the athletes that they nurtured for this National Games deserve a standing ovation.

May they all go on and conquer new horizons.

May Pakistan sport surge like never before.

At the conclusion, the POA and the PbOA combines to give a big hand to the Police, for providing excellent security in a tough environment, and the Traffic Wardens for guiding us to our destinations through choked and clogged arteries.

The POA and PbOA also acknowledge with gratitude the role of the media in the success of these Games and the projection of the athletes.

Pakistan Paindabad.