KP Inter-District U-21 Games begin

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inter-District Under-21 Men Games got underway on Monday with more than 5,000 players from all 35 districts taking part in 10 different events.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Labour and Culture Shaukat Ali Yousafzai and Minister for Health and Finance Taimur Saleem Jhagra formally inaugurated the games which would continue at different venues across Peshawar till December 2.

MPA and Focal Person of the Chief Minister KP on Uplift Projects Asif Khan, MPA Malik Wajidullah Khan, MPA Pir Fida Khan, DG Sports KP Asfandyar Khan Khattak, Director Female Games Ms Rashida Ghaznavi, PD Prime Minister 1000 Sports Facilities Murad Ali Mohmand, Director Operation Syed Saqlain Shah, Ex-Director Sports Tariq Mehmood, DSO Peshawar Tehseen Ullah, officials, coaches, players and a large number of spectators were also present during the opening ceremony.

The Peshawar Sports Complex was decorated with various banners and illuminated with colourful lights for the opening ceremony.The players are competing in hockey, table tennis, judo, karate, taekwondo, gymnastics, wushu, weightlifting, wrestling and basketball.

The games of the merged districts would start from December 7 wherein a total of 2500 players in 17 different Games would take part, followed by the U21 Female Games to be held in the last week of December wherein 2624 women players will participate in volleyball, netball, athletics, tug-of-war, badminton, table tennis and cricket.

Taimur Saleem Jhagra said that Peshawar has become the centre of sports activities.He said Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan have done record work in a short span of time and especially in the field of sports.

The minister said projects worth billions of rupees are underway across the province. Pakistan cricket team used to have one or two players earlier from KP but now more

than half of the team is from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the legends are coming from this province, he said.

Minister for Labour and Culture Shaukat Ali Yousafzai said everyone should participate in sports and display their best skills.Minister Shaukat Yousafzai said: “We have no shortage of talent and now the players are getting opportunities. Stadiums will be constructed at the level of the union council at a cost of Rs 3 billion and another amount of Rs 1000 million had been allocated for the merged districts for developing sports infrastructure which will provide sports facilities to the players near their homes.