KP govt terms holding mega sports event a success: Ajmal

Farid Shinwari

PESHAWAR: Adviser to Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Information, Ajmal Wazir has said that holding of such a mega event Khyber Pakhtunkhwa U-21 games, is accomplishment of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision to promote sports and tourism in the province.

Talking to media persons at Qayyum Sports Complex on Sunday, the minister said it was a great achievement that the KP U-21 games are taking place at Qayyum Sports Stadium and other districts of the province.

He said participation of thousands of male and female players in the mega sports event proved that the province is going to sports and tourism from terrorism, which he added had created bad image of this soil.

Flanked by Director General (DG) Directorate of Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Asfandyar Khan Khattak, he said that despite militancy, terrorism and earthquakes in the province, the people resisted them and did loose courage, which is laudable.

As per directives of Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, the sports programme in the province be completed as soon as possible, he stated that the KP government had allocated Rs7.5billion for the sports grounds in the province and merged districts as, and out of the concerned amount Rs1billion for the grooming players.

Appreciating the CM KP for his important steps to promote sports and tourism in the province when he was sports minister aimed at diverting attention of the youth towards positive activities in the province. The minister said.

Responding to different queries, he said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to be a chief guest to inaugurate the mega sports event  today on 09th March 2020, for which all arrangement have been finalized.

He also applauded DG sports Asfandyar Khan Khattak for working day and night to make the games more successful. Earlier, the minister paid visit to venues of the stadium to inspect the games, where  boxing, hockey and athletics were continue.

APP adds: Earlier, he also visited all the venues and inspected the venues, discuss facilities with players and directed DG sports to ensure due facilities to the players. The events have already kicked off wherein Mardan, Bannu and Hazara secured their matches in the women hockey played at Lala Ayub Hockey Stadium Peshawar.

The first match was played between Malakand Division and Mardan Division in which Mardan easily defeated Malakand 4-0. Mardan scored the first goal in the 7th minute, the second goal in the 44th, third 56th and fourth goals in the 57th minute, while the second match was played between Kohat Division and Bannu Division. Kohat won the match by 1-0. The third match was played by Hazara Division and DI Khan Division which was won Hazara Division at 4-0.  DG Sports Asfandyar Khan Khattak, Director Sports Female Games Rasheda Ghaznavi were also present.

In the Women Handball played at Abdul Wali Khan Sports Complex Mardan, Malakand, Mardan and Hazara secured victories. In the first Malakand Division defeated Kohat Division by 5-1 while in the second match Mardan Division easily defeated DI Khan by 11-0 and in the last match Hazara Division recorded victory against Bannu by 4-1.

Besides women baseball and handball, the competitions of Taekwondo, Judo were also started in which all the divisional teams are taking part. In Judo -44kg weight category, Malakand and Hazara reached the finals while Hazara and Peshawar raced up to the semi-final in -48kg weight. Peshawar and Malakand and reached to the final in -52kg weight category while Dera Ismail Khan and Hazara reached to the final of the 53kg weight category. In the -57kg weight category Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, reached to the final 62kg weight. In the Women Tennis Peshawar also reached to the semi-finals. Peshawar defeated Bannu by 2-0, Malakand recorded victory against Kohat.