Athletes seek Sindh sports minister’s intervention

Denied prize money

KARACHI: A large number of Sindh-based athletes who won medals at the Quaid-e-Azam Inter-provincial Games 2016 have been deprived of their prize money because of ambiguity in the policy of the provincial sports department, ‘The News’ has learnt.

Sindh athletes got third position at the Games with 18 gold medals, 17 silver and 33 bronze.

The Sindh Sports Board (SSB) had promised that Rs20,000 would be given to gold medal winners, Rs10,000 for silver and Rs5000 for bronze.

But the athletes who won bronze medals have not been given prizes and informed that it had been decided in the meeting of SSB that bronze medal winners would not be given prize money.

The boys and girls of Sindh had won 33 bronze medals. Thus, they were entitled to get Rs165,000.

Besides, Rs10,000 cash award had been announced for silver medal winners. Sindh athletes won 17 silver medals and thus were entitled to Rs170,000, but they were given only Rs5000 each.

A section of press reported that prize money has been given to all medal winning players, including those who won bronze. But a group of affected athletes said it was not true.

Half of the affected players are girls, who overcome a number of obstacles to participate in sports events. Most of them come from lower and middle class background.

The affected players said that officials of SSB involved in this decision should explain this strange decision. They told this correspondent that they wanted to know the rationale of this discrimination.

They appealed to sports minister Sardar Muhammad Bux Mahar, who has been appointed recently, to take notice of the matter.

Sources said there was no complaint from the gold medal winners as they have got the promised Rs20,000.

The players appealed to the minister to take notice of this injustice with Sindh athletes who got third position in the games. They said they expected positive response from the minister.

Punjab won the first position with 61 gold medals, 43 silver, and 32 bronze.  Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stood second with 20 gold medals, 17 silver and 41 bronze medals.