PESHAWAR, Jun 26 (APP):Provincial Minister for Sports, Tourism and Youth Affairs, Muhammad Atif Khan unveiled logo of the 33rd National Games amidst great fun and joys here at Qayyum Sports Complex.
The colourful ceremony was largely attended by Member of the National and Provincial Assemblies, Secretary General Pakistan Olympic Association Khalid Mehmood, POA nominee Jehangir Ahmad, MD Tourism Corporation and Vice Chairman of the National Games Junaid Khan, DG Sports Asfanidyar Khan, members of the Olympic family, organizing Secretary of the Games Zulfiqar Ali Butt, President of the Games Syed Aqil Shah, former and current international players.
Atif Khan in his speech said that the govt is providing opportunities for youth to grow and work for the country. He said the govt is working hard with the promotion of sports along with tourism development.
He said five billion rupees have been kept and the amount will make roads to reach new and old tourist places. New sites have been identified and all resources would be utilized to provide best available facilities to the 10,000 plus players to be part of the 33rd National Games scheduled to be held in Peshawar from Oct 26 to Nov 1, 2019.
It would be a record Games in the history of Pakistan that such a grand participation of the female in 27 different games of the total 34 Games including two exhibition Games to be played in merged tribal districts, Atif Khan said.
He said unfortunately the people of KP and specially the youth have suffered a lot because of the poor law and order situation. “We owned the youth of merged tribal districts and for this purpose we have taken a step to give due opportunities to the tribal youth to be part of the forthcoming 33rd National Games,” he added.
The youth of KP are very hard working and patriotic, young people have made their name known to Pakistan throughout the world, while at the international level, our players have achieved great name and fame. He said the situation is favorable and is better than ever. He said participation of females in 27 different Games could clearly indicate the sincerity of the govt toward gender equality.
He said holding of such a big Game after a lapse of nine year mean the govt is fully committed toward promotion of sports. About the tourism promotion he said, more than 10,000 athletes are part of the National Games would certainly help in portraying a soft image of KP to the rest of the world.
“We had come out of the darkest phase wherein the youth suffered badly due to insurgency and militancy and now we are looking forward to facilitate our youth in a appropriate way,” the Senior Minister said.
He said steps have been taken for the construction of 1000 playing fields in all across KP including merged tribal districts so that the players could get a chance of playing and exhibit the talent. He said construction of a separate sports complexes on the divisional level for women in addition to that 25 new squash courts would be developed. These projects, he said, already part of this year budget allocation for sports development.
At the end, the Minister formally inaugurated the multi-colour logo with more focus has been given to the Olympic rings. The rings are five interlocking, coloured blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field, known as the “Olympic rings”. The symbol was originally designed in 1913 by de Coubertin.
The rings represent the five continents Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. Secretary POA Khalid Mehmood and Aqil Shah also spoke on this occasion.
