SAG medal-winning wushu players receive cash awards

KARACHI: Pakistan’s wushu fighters were on Tuesday handed over cheques for lifting medals at the 13th South Asian Games held in Nepal last year.

In the function held in Islamabad, federal minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Dr Fehmida Mirza distributed the cheques among the medallists.

The gold medallists were handed cheques of Rs 1 million each, with the silver medallists pocketing Rs 500,000 each and the bronze medallists going away with Rs 250,000 each.

Pakistan had grabbed three gold, four silvers and the same number of bronze in wushu in the biennial spectacle in Kathmandu.

Maaz Khan, Sajid Hussain and Muhammad Amjad Iqbal had won gold, Farhan Ali, Shahzab, Miara Karamat and Sundus won silver medals, while Fatima, Abdul Khaliq, Saddam Hussain and Muhammad Dawood won bronze medals.

Secretary IPC Muhammad Ali Shahzada, Additional Secretary IPC Amna Imran and Deputy Director General PSB Mohammad Azam Dar were also present on the occasion.

Fehmida also congratulated the medallists, urging them to work hard and bring further laurels for the country.

The minister also directed PSB to prepare a database of the players especially of SAG medallists enabling to connect the elite players with the Prime Minister through a sports portal.

This will facilitate the players to upload their videos on the portal to interact with dignitaries and will also help to know the problems of the players, the PSB said in a press release.

Fehmida also advised the athletes to remain active on social media to learn soft skills in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic which has rocked the world with thousands of people losing their precious lives.

The wushu fighters also thanked IPC for honouring them with cash awards at the most critical stage of careers.

Wrestling, squash and taekwondo players have already been handed over cash prizes during the last few days.