Sports August 14, 1962. (1962-4)

The 7-Paisa stamp depicts a football with goal-posts, net, a diagram of the football field, the Quaid-i-Azam Cup and two decorative borders of flags. The 13-Paisa stamp depicts two hockey sticks, goal-posts, net, a ball, the Olympic Gold Medal, a diagram of a hockey field, the five-ringed Olympic Symbol and two decorative borders of flags. The 25-Paisa stamp depicts two crossed squash rackets, a ball, a diagram of a squash-court layout, the British Squash Rackets Championship Cup and two decorative borders of flags. The 40-Paisa stamp depicts a cricket bat, wickets, a ball, the central layout of a cricket pitch, the Ayub Challenge Cup and two decorative borders of flags. The word “Pakistan” in Urdu, English and Bengali appears at the base of the stamps and the words “Football, Hockey, Squash Rackets or Cricket” as the case may be, above the writing in Bengali.
The stamps have been designed by the Pakistan Security Printing Corporation Ltd., Karachi, under the guidance of the Director General, Pakistan Post Office.
The Commemoratives will be released for sale on and from August 14, 1962, from all Post Offices in Pakistan, the Philatelic Bureau Karachi, the Philatelic Counters at Lahore, Rawalpindi, Dacca and Chittagong and from some of the Pakistan Diplomatic Missions abroad.
Sports and physical activities are powerful forces in the balanced development of the youth of the coun-try. These activities provide an outlet for release of tensions and inculcate a spirit of operation and healthy competition. The purpose of issuing this set of stamps is to focus attention on this important aspect of na-tional life.
Pakistan has already attained distinction in the field of sports and has produced outstanding sports-men in almost all the major branches thereof. The most outstanding achievement has been the winning of the World Championship in Field Hockey during the 1960 Olympics at Rome. In Squash Rackets, a suc-cession of players from Pakistan, mainly coached and trained by the Pakistan Armed Forces, have won world championships in important international tournaments. In Cricket, Pakistan has distinguished itself in Test encounters with almost all the major cricket playing countries in the world. At present Hockey and Cricket occupy the position of being national sports from the point of view of their popu-larity in almost all parts of the country. The same is true of Foot-ball but this enjoys special popularity in East Pakistan, being comparatively unaffected by wet and damp fields. Oriental style wrestling has been a traditional sport and enjoys a good deal of support among the masses, particularly in the northern region of West Pakistan. Even in the Greco-Roman style of wrestling, Pakistan won Bronze Medals in the World Championships held in Teheran in 1959. In athletics and track events in international meets, some sportsmen from the Pakistan Army have dis-tinguished themselves by holding Asian records in those events. Mention should also be made of the achievement of Brojan Das, the swimmer from East Pakistan, who broke the record for crossing the English Channel twice at the fastest ever time of 10 hours and 35 seconds.
The outstanding achievements mentioned above have been, however, mainly due to individual efforts of the sportsmen or teams, though, doubtless with financial and other help from Government. The nation now needs a planned campaign for creation among all classes of the people a consciousness that sports are an essential and healthy activity for the balanced mental and physical development and im-provement in the outlook of the youth of the country. Planned development of sports is also necessary. For achieving this aim better arrangements in the way of playing fields, sports equipment and coaching and training are needed, particularly in schools and colleges. National sports organizations receive every year substantial, financial help in the shape of grants-in-aid from Government. In order to improve the standard of sports, Government has also decided to open permanent training institutes at the principal towns. Adequate facilities can, however, be brought about if sports receive patronage and financial help not merely from the Government but also from local bodies, big employers, industrialists, philanthropists and the like, who it may be hoped, will get into the field and play their role in the uplift of national sports, as they do in other advanced countries of the world.