Haroon Tareen Khan: A struggling star

Professional athletes need mental peace to stay on the top of their game, which is why it is essential to take care of their psychological health along with their physical health.

Not being in a good mental space and the burden of other responsibilities can affect their performance.

There are numerous cases where top-class professionals have left their passion to earn a basic livelihood as the game could not provide them with enough resources to manage day-to-day expenses.

The same is the case with one of Pakistan’s top Taekwondo stars performers. Haroon Khan Tareen, a gold medalist, is looking to end his nine-year-long career as he cannot see any future in the sport.

Hailing from Pashin in Balochistan, he started Taekwondo as a kid in 2013 but decided to pursue it as a profession after completing his intermediate. He has completed his studies at Patna Science College.

The 24-year-old won his first national Gold for Balochistan in 2015, participating in the 58kg category.

Tareen made Pakistan proud with South Asian and other prominent international medals, including a Bronze medal in the 8th Asian Clubs Taekwondo G-1 event in Iran in 2018, Gold in the 13th South Asian games in Nepal 2019, and Bronze in El-Hassan Taekwondo International Cup 2019 in Jordan.

Despite facing many problems, Tareen continued to win big for the country on the international stage. However, despite shining so brightly for Pakistan, he is unable to get a permanent job; therefore, struggling to make the ends meet.

His last four months’ expenses were looked after by Pakistan Taekwondo Federation (PTF) President Colonel Waseem.

Although he has been aided by the president of his federation, maintaining a decent lifestyle is still a challenge.

A professional martial artist needs to have a healthy lifestyle, maintain a balanced diet which includes fish, eggs, nuts and seeds, lean meats, carbohydrates, whole grains, lots of veggies of multiple colours, fruits, healthy fats, such as healthy oils and avocados to excel in the sport.

Tareen emphasised that he cannot afford a healthy diet if he is paid just Rs30,000 a month.

The 24-year-old also lashed out at the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) for their lack of support for the athletes.

While narrating his story, he pleaded for a permanent contract so that he is at ease mentally and focus on his game better rather than figuring out solutions to his family’s financial constraints.

“I am jobless, I have won Gold medals for Pakistan and have been going through a lot,” said Tareen. “If a Gold medalist is going through this, just think about the condition of other aspirant Taekwondo stars in the country.”

The 24-year-old martial artist explained what a local athlete goes through while training without any basic support, including medical treatment.

“PSB has zero interest in athletes’ welfare,” he said “Athletes’ diet must be of utmost priority but we have been fed chicken continuously while living there. We have complained many times regarding our diet. We are deprived of basic facilities. We don’t have warm water for a bath.”

He further shared that he had suffered an injury once and when he went to the PSB’s health facility, the staff there merely handed over him a painkiller and asked him to leave.

“I wanted to go for a physiotherapy but the official of PSB was not happy when she got to know why I wanted to go for that treatment,” he added. “These are the little things that are out of focus. What if a player is injured and does not have enough financial support, where should they go? I had a knee surgery a few years back and the expenses were taken care of by one of my sponsors.”

Tareen also took WAPDA in his firing range for not giving him his due share despite winning many medals for them over the years.

“I represented WAPDA for six years but they didn’t use to give me a salary,” he said. “The time I spent there was quite a lot but they didn’t offer me a permanent contract. I was not even rewarded by my department after winning a gold medal at the South Asian level.”

As a lone breadwinner in the family, Tareen has to look for some reliable streams for money; therefore, he is forced to look elsewhere to make money, leaving his passion behind.

“My monthly expense is around Rs150,000 to 200,000, which includes the expense of my diet and family but currently what I receive is close to nothing,” he said. “I had to spend Rs200,000 for my diet only for the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Pakistan Open International Taekwondo (G-1) where I won a Gold medal. This is how much an athlete needs to spend to attain a favourable result.”

Mentioning that he was on the verge of quitting Taekwondo, but the PTF president, his friends and coaches asked him not to do that. However, he is still unsure of his future as an athlete.

“There is no future in the game and I also have to look after my family. It looks unnecessary to play further,” he maintained.

Though he is disheartened, he has not lost all the hope as there is a chance of him getting a permanent contract from the Pakistan Army.

“I may get a contract with Pak Army as I have an offer from there,” he shared. “But it is not confirmed currently. They are offering me a five-year contract with a monthly pay of PKR 50,000. This is also not a permanent contract as it will end after five years.”

He appealed to the authorities to hand him a permanent job, which will allow him to focus on his skill more, instead of thinking about how to feed his family.

He also voiced increasing the number of local tournaments annually as it will help nourish the talent in the country.

“Taekwondo is on a rise in the country and Pakistan is also hosting international events, while there is just one national event a year. It’s quite difficult to see the talent coming out from that one-off event.”

On the other hand, Haroon also talked about the fourth Asian Championship which will take place in his home country and hoped that players would use the event to showcase their talent in front of the local crowd.