LAHORE, Jun 12 (APP):Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Youth Affairs Shaza Fatima Khawaja has said sports play major role in ensuring holistic development of children.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday, she said that from today, Prime Minister’s Sports Talent Hunt for football was being started across the country.
She said that the purpose of the initiative was to take the youth towards positivity and to eliminate toxicity spread among youngsters due to politics based on hatred and unrest.
She said the PM Youth Programme was launched in 2013 by the PML-N government, and Maryam Nawaz had presented its idea. She said that a number of programmes were started under the Youth Programme like scholarships, laptops, ‘Qarz-e-Hsna’, business loans, internships, etc.
She said that during the last one year, thousands of children participated in hockey and volleyball trials. Shaza said that in the coming two weeks, trials would be conducted across the country and calendar in this regard would also be shared.
She said that after Eidul Azha, provincial leagues would be started on completion of trials. She said that teams, which would come forward in provincial leagues, their national competition would be held by the end of July in Islamabad.
The SAPM said that economic well-being of sportsmen and sportswomen was important so prizes would be given in provincial leagues as well.
She said that it was unfortunate that in previous years, departmental sports were stopped by the previous government. Shaza Fatima said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had restored departmental sports.
The provincial government had collaborated with the federal government in very good way and she hoped that collective efforts would definitely yield positive results for providing good opportunities to children in sports, she added.
She said that Rs 2-3 million would be a prize money for provincial leagues. She urged the youth to actively take part in it and said that the first trial event was being started from Lahore College for Women University.
Caretaker Punjab Sports Minister Wahab Riaz appreciated the federal government over its approach under which they were collaborating with the provincial governments for promotion of sports. He said it was welcoming that youth, especially girls, would be empowered through the initiative.
He said that all possible support would be extended to the federal government in this regard.
The SAPM said that players, who had won events of wrestling and weightlifting, had also won medals at international levels. She said that all sports would be catered to one by one.
PML-N leader Rana Mashhood said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif always wanted to provide platform to youth in different fields of life.
He said that no nation could make progress unless equal growth opportunities were not provided in all fields. He said that the PML-N had always steered the country out of crisis. He said that country’s future talent would emerge out of these sport talent hunt programmes.
To a question, Shaza Fatima said that Imran Khan made thousands of sportsmen and sportswomen jobless through stopping departmental sports. She said that PML-N always wanted to establish maximum sports complexes.
She said that efforts were being made to revive departmental sports. She said that under Prime Minister’s Special Initiatives, Rs 80 billion had been allocated in the federal budget 2023-24 just to empower youth. This year, sports endowment fund would be set up, she added.
To a question, she said there was a need to channelise things to attract sponsorship. She said, “Country’s baseball team ranks at 29th in the world.” Shaza Fatima also inaugurated the talent hunt for football at the LCWU ground.