Dr. Fahmida Mirza Opens PSB National Athletics Meet

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Sep, 2021 ) :Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) Dr. Fahmida Mirza Monday inaugurated the Pakistan Sports board (PSB) National Athletics Meet-2021 amid a colourful ceremony held here at the Tartan Track of the Qayyum Sports Complex.

Director General Punjab Sports Board Adnan Arshad Aulak, Director General Sports KP Asfandyar Khan Khattak, Director Female Games Miss Rashida Ghaznavi, Director Operation Syed Saqlain Shah, Director Development Saleem Raza, Director Games Aziz Ullah Jan, Muhammad Tariq Khan, AD Zakir Ullah, Coaches Shah Faisal, Syed Jaffar Shah, Miss Amina, Miss Saira Khan, Miss Bushra Khan, Captain Ashraf, President Pakistan Cycling Federation Syed Azhar Ali Shah, Asian Gold medalist athlete Asad Iqbal, players from Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were also present on the occasion.

Each team comprises 20 girls athletes and 20 boys athletes to be competing in the Athletic Meet organized jointly by the Pakistan Sports Board and Directorate General Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. More than 280 players are participating in this event. The ceremony started with the recitation from the Holy Quran, followed by the national anthem and march past of all the participating 280 athletes of the six participating teams.

Speaking on this occasion, Dr. Fahmida Mirza said that Sports culture will be promoted in all educational institutions. "Our children will go to the National and International events and with hard work of the coaches with players, hopefully, the youth of Pakistan will make their country famous again," said Dr. Fahmida Mirza.

"Today, I personally met the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan and I am very happy that the KP government is spending huge funds on sports besides billions of rupees allocated for developing international standard sports infrastructure," Dr. Fehmida Mirza said.

The sports has suffered a lot due to corona, she said, adding, "We are bringing a sports national policy in which most of the focus will be on our children." "Pakistan is a blessing we have to appreciate it but due to the negative approach of the people associated since long with different federation and association and POA, such talented players have been wasted," Dr.

Fehmida Mirza said.

The Inter-Provincial U16 and Boys U17 Championship is aimed at bringing upcoming talent youth to national and international levels. Dr. Fahmida Mirza said that the KP government is doing an ideal job for the promotion of sports and so far if any government in the country is making practical and sincere efforts for the development and promotion of sports, it is undoubtedly the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

She said that this year is the year of sports and in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, inter-provincial games will be held in all the provinces which started from Peshawar and will continue in future as well.

She also directed the KP govt to continue such events. She said that unfortunately school and college level sports have come to an end in our country and our government is trying to restore it from the grassroots. She said that the government was also paying full attention to the sports of madrassas and persons with different abilities as athlete Haider Ali had won a gold medal in the recent Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

Pakistan has a name in the world of sports and is the only country of the world to got the honor of winning world in four different Games � Squash, cricket, Snooker and Hockey so we want to achieve the same status for which we have to work hard and give a proper mechanism through introducing new sports policy.

Wasim Khan of KP won first gold medal in 800m, Muhammad Anis of Punjab won the silver medal, Muhammad Zaman of Punjab won the bronze medal and Yusuf Khan of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa got fourth, Aqeeb of Azad Kashmir managed to take the fifth position and Ayan Kareem of Gilgit-Baltistan took the sixth position.

Similarly, Zara Tariq from Punjab won the girls' 800 meter gold medal, Maham of Sindh won silver medal, followed by Manahil of KP, Abeer Zafar of Sindh and Faiza of KP got sixth position. At the opening ceremony, the players and guests also enjoyed different colorful fireworks which were put on display at the end.