Inam not being given cash award

KARACHI: The government is going to hand over cash awards to the medal winners of key international events during the last couple of years, but the country’s premier wrestler Mohammad Inam will get nothing despite having defended the World Beach Wrestling Championship title in 2018 before finishing with silver in the 2019 edition of the global event.

In the June 20 award ceremony at the Islamabad Sports Complex, cash prizes will be given to the medal winners of the 2017 Islamic Games, 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, 2018 Youth Olympics and 2018 Paralympics. Beach events are not in the awards policy of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).

Inam was given Rs500,000 when he won world beach title in 2017 for the first time. “I think it will be injustice if Inam is not given a cash award for his fantastic performance in the global beach events,” an official of Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) told ‘The News’ on Monday.

“We have written to the PSB that Inam should also be encouraged as he deserves a cash award. He is our most talented fighter,” the official said. Inam qualified for the World Beach Games after ending second in the qualifying round in Brazil. Inam is the first athlete of Pakistan to have qualified for the inaugural World Beach Games, which will be held in San Diego in October this year.