ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) is facing stark criticism on social media for not getting the premises of a boxing academy vacated from the Frontier Corps (FC), a paramilitary force, whose personnel have been residing at the place for almost two years.

Several years ago, Amir Khan, a prominent Britain-born Pakistani boxer, established an academy at the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad to help young boxing aspirants in Pakistan train and excel there.

The academy remained functional for some years. However, in 2022 the PSB got it vacated apparently for “renovation and overhauling”. However, later FC was shifted to the premises of the academy and since then their personnel have been living there.

The matter emerged on Friday, when Amir expressing his concerns in a video message stated that the facility instead of promoting boxing was being used for FC’s residence. “FC should go back,” the former world champion boxer, who signed an MoU with the PSB in 2015 for the academy, said in his video.

Amir further said that some Pakistan boxers had messaged him that they were unable to train at the academy, saying that it was closed. Noting that he had taken up the matter with government officials concerned, Amir regretted that nothing had happened during the past one year “and maybe over one year”.

Meanwhile, speaking to Dawn, a PSB official said that a strategy was being made to get the facility vacated. According to another official, the issue had already been taken up with the Interior Ministry.

“We hope that the facility will be vacated soon, we are making efforts to get it vacated [even] tonight,” claimed a PSB official.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2024