By Sohail Ali
LAHORE, Jan 25 (APP): Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs and Chairman Sports Board Punjab Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti presided over the General Body meeting of Sports Board Punjab here at National Hockey Stadium on Monday.
The meeting was attended by Vice-Chairman Sports Board Punjab Rao Zahid Qayyum, Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Fuad Hashim Rabbani, Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh, MPAs Ms Talath Fatima Naqvi and Ayesha Chaudhry, Director Admin Javed Chohan, Ms Aneela Khawaja, former Olympian Tauqeer Dar, Advisor on Media Saqib Wazir, Vice-Captain Pakistan women cricket team Mareena Iqbal, Taekwondo coach-cum-player Ms Najia Rasool, Coach Pak women football team Ms Kiran Ilyas Ghouri and representatives of Secretary Finance, Secretary LG & CD, Member (Colonies), BOR, Secretary Higher Education, Secretary P&D, Secretary Industries also attended the meeting.
Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Fuad Hashim Rabbani and Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh gave a detailed briefing about the annual performance, development schemes and other key affairs in the General Body meeting.
Several important decisions were taken during the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, Punjab Sports Minister said Punjab government in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan is making effective endeavours for the growth of sports culture across the province.
“As many as 25 Teshsil Sports Complexes are on the verge of completion and Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate these sports complexes most probably next month”, he added.
He also announced to organize a major sports championship at provincial level every month to find fresh sports talent.
“A plan has been finalized to hold a championship of a particular game every month so that players from all parts of the province can get appropriate opportunities on a regular basis to express their talent. First Quaid-e-Azam Inter-Division Hockey Championship 2021 is also part of this campaign,” said the Punjab Sports Minister.
Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti said hockey was ignored in the past eras but our govt is taking the revival of hockey as a mission. “After First Quaid-e-Azam Inter-Division Hockey Championship 2021 we are also going to organize the Hockey League with the collaboration of Pakistan Hockey Federation in near future,” he asserted.
Punjab Minister for Sports said that Punjab’s first-ever Sports Policy has been sent to the Finance Department. “It will be presented in the Punjab Cabinet soon for the approval.
The sports culture will be revived in the province in true sense after the approval of Sports Policy.
“ We are holding regular sports championships of different games to give youngsters a suitable platform to express their talent”.
He said as many as 200 sports grounds will be built across the province under the revolutionary Soft Sports Programme. “Besides this, the boundary wall of Greater Iqbal Park will also be constructed. We are also planning to hold the Inter-Division Volleyball Championship in DG Khan as soon as the fears of Covid-19 reduced in the province”.
Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti announced that the Punjab Chief Minister will award High Achiever Awards to all the top athletes including medal winners in different games at international level in near future.
“The Tour de Punjab Cycling race will also be organized in the coming months”, he added.
During the meeting, different committees including Finance and Recruitment Committees have also been formed to review Punjab’s various key sports issues. “Finance Committee will look after financial issues while the Recruitment Committee has been constituted to oversee hiring issues of different staffers”.
Former hockey Olympian Tauqeer Dar highly praised the useful efforts of Sports Board Punjab for the revival of hockey under the leadership of Punjab Sports Minister.
“These kinds of efforts have never been seen in the previous tenures. Back-to-back hockey events reflected the great resolve of the present regime and we are quite hopeful that Pakistan will regain its lost glory in hockey future”, he said.
All the participants of the General Body meeting lauded SBP’s monthly Newsletter.
This Newsletter will highlight the key performances and achievements of Sports Board Punjab in the shape of a booklet.
“Sports Board Punjab’s first-ever Newsletter will prove to be an effective tool for the growth of sports culture throughout the Punjab province in line with the vision of Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan”.
