Punjab to complete hat-trick of success next year: Khanzada

Quaid Games medal winners honoured

By Our correspondent

LAHORE: Sports Board Punjab (SBP) showered cash prizes on the members of Punjab contingent who offered top performance during the recently-held 2nd Quaid-i-Azam Inter-Provincial Games in a grand prize distribution ceremony at National Hockey Stadium on Thursday.

Overall, Sports Board Punjab awarded Rs 33,45,000 to all the participating members of Punjab contingent.Punjab Minister for Sports Jahangir Khanzada and Secretary Sports Punjab Muhammad Aamir Jan, who were guests of honour at the prize distribution ceremony, awarded cash prizes to prominent athletes. The prize distribution ceremony was also attended by MPA Farzana Butt, ex-PHF chief Olympian Akhtar Rasool, Director Sports Anees Sheikh, Deputy Directors Tariq Wattoo, Hafeez Bhatti and a large number of sports officials and athletes. It’s worth-mentioning that Punjab contingent topped the medals table Quaid-i-Azam Inter-Provincial Games with a massive aggregate of 151 medals that include 74 gold, 46 silver and 31 bronze medals.

Punjab’s female athletics team was given the biggest cash prize among all the participants. They got Rs 4,10,000 whereas their male counterparts were awarded Rs 2,60,000. Punjab Minister for Sports Jahangir Khanzada also gave cheques of Rs 50,000 each to female members of Pakistani powerlifting team Saniha Ghafoor, Twinkle Sohail and Sybil Sohail, who won four gold medals each in the Oceania Pacific Powerlifting Championship in Singapore recently.

Following are the other cash prizes given to different sports teams of Punjab contingent.

Wrestling (male) Rs 1,60,000; Weightlifting (male) Rs 1,55,000; Judo (male) Rs 145000; Boxing (male) Rs 140000; Judo (female) Rs 135000; Badminton (male) 1,05,000; Badminton (female) 85,000; Snooker (male) 1,05,000; Volleyball (male) 1,00,000; Volleyball (female) 1,00,000; Kabaddi (male) 1,00,000; Baseball (male) 1,00,000; Table tennis (male) 1,00,000; Table tennis (female) 85,000; Football (female) 1,00,000; Football (male) 75,000;

Hockey (female) 1,00,000; Hockey (male) 75,000; Wushu (male) 90,000; Tennis (male) 90,000; Tennis (female) 90,000; Netball (male) 75,000; Netball (female) 75,000; Karate (male) Rs 70,000; Karate (female) Rs 50,000; Taekwondo (female) Rs 75,000; Taekwondo (male) Rs 25,000; Squash (male) 35,000; Squash (female) 35,000.

Meanwhile Punjab Minister for Sports Jahangir Khanzada said Punjab is blessed with plenty of sports talent and it will complete hat-trick of success in Quaid-i-Azam Inter-Provincial Games next year, he made this prediction while addressing the grand prize distribution ceremony held to honour the medal-winners of 2nd Quaid-i-Azam Inter-Provincial Games at National Hockey Stadium on Thursday night.

Addressing the prize distribution ceremony Punjab Minister for Sports Jahangir Khanzada has announced to hold Punjab Games after a gap of seven years in April this year. “We are also planning to organize Punjab Inter-Divisional U-16 (Boys) Hockey Championship in April this year,” he added.

Khanzada urged the talented youngsters of the province to keep on hard work because without doing hard work you can’t achieve your goal. “Winning the Quaid-i-Azam Inter-Provincial Games and any other national tournament should not be our target. Our target must be to win international or Olympic titles. And insh-Allah our athletes will achieve this goal in near future. The victory in Quaid-i-Azam Inter-Provincial Games is the first step towards that target,” he elaborated.

During his address, Secretary Sports Punjab Aamir Jan said that Punjab maintained its supremacy in Quaid-i-Azam Inter-Provincial Games. “It was a national event in which win or lose does not make any difference. This event was actually designed to enhance nationalism, communication and above all brotherhood among all the regions of the country. And fortunately, we achieved this goal during the 5-day mega event. Literally this event helped a lot in minimizing the gap among all the provinces,” he maintained.

Aamir Jan further said: “Sports Board Punjab has established a top class network of sports facilities in the province. We built a quality sports infrastructure across the province. Our world class facilities can be matched with any other country of the world”.