A remarkable re-birth of rowing has taken place at the Karachi Boat Club in Pakistan. Rowing, originally introduced in the country by the British over a century ago, had all but disappeared at the Karachi Boat Club by the late 1970’s. Fortunately, one of the club rowers from that time, Arif Ikram, decided to re-establish the rowing program. He began is his efforts several years ago and has grown the program to over 400 boys and girls today. He has been assisted by US Coach & ex-MIT rower, Ahsan Iqbal. Together they developed a successful program of very competitive junior boys and girls. In addition, some of their rowers have had the opportunity to travel to the UK and to the US to train and race. This experience of mixing rowers from different countries and cultures has been more than athletic. Perhaps our politicians should learn to row and do what the youth of the Karachi Boat club have done to develop international understanding and cooperation?

Ahsan Iqbal, Arif Ikram & Mike Vespoli