HISTORY of PPF- Pakistan Parkour Federation
Approximately 15 years ago, gymnastics athletes in Pakistan, started practicing Parkour outside the arena of gymnastics. These gymnasts wanted to expand their movement skills and were motivated by things they had seen in the movies, by stunt performers, and on the internet. As the sport grew in Pakistan other non-gymnast youth watched, trained, and learned the skills and philosophies of Parkour. These young athletes had only one platform to show their talent which was social media.
Due to lack of resources they were unable to promote Parkour on a higher level. There is no lack of talented Pakistani athletes who are participating in Parkour, but the problem was that there was no leader or guidance for these young athletes, so PPF founder Usman Nawaz reached out to the IPF- International Parkour Federation for guidance. At IPF’s recommendation, Nawaz reached out to esteemed sport leaders in Pakistan such as Pervaiz Iqbal (now PPF President), Sifyan Inayat (now PPF Vice President), and Sohail Ahmad (now PPF Treasurer), who were career sport professionals. Together, with the help of IPF, they formed the official PPF- Pakistan Parkour Federation in the summer of 2019.
Goals for 2020 for PPF-
PPF Board and committee members are in the process of organizing championships across Pakistan to promote Parkour as an official sport in Pakistan. The biggest platform to show and promote parkour is social media and PPF is pursuing resources that they can use to promote Parkour in both electronic and print media. PPF board and committee members are developing seminars, workshops, and meetups to educate current and new and upcoming Parkour athletes about Parkour history and movement and planning for the future of Parkour in Pakistan. Since the announcement of the establishment of PPF as an IPF member federation, dozens of players have been joining PPF daily.