PESHAWAR
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa medal winners of the 34th National Games held in Quetta are still deprived of cash prizes, President Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Olympic Association Syed Aqil Shah said here Wednesday.
For the first time in history, our performance was excellent, but despite the passage of three months, the players could not be motivated and are still awaiting for the cash prizes as a promise was made by the then Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr. Riaz Anwar.
President Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Olympic Association Syed Aqil Shah said that the players who won medals for the province in 34th National Games Quetta are missing the prize money despite the passage of three months. He said it was a matter of concern that they are not encouraged by the provincial government and sports department, which may affect the performance of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the upcoming Inter-Provincial Games.
Provincial Olympic Association President Syed Aqil Shah said that the players of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had given outstanding performances by winning 49 medals with four gold medal, two in in sailing and one each in Badminton, Judo, six silver medal, with four silver medal in sailing and one silver medal each in Judo and Wushu and 39 bronze medals including 10 in Taekwondo, seven in Wushu, four each in Judo and Karate, two each in sailing, Tennis, wrestling and one each in Badminton, bodybuilding, boxing, cycling, shooting, squash, archery and weightlifting.
It was an excellent performance, Aqil Shah said. This is the first time that our athletes have given a good performance and won dozens of medals. It is commendable in terms of quality, but despite this, the prize money announced by the former Provincial Caretaker Sports Minister Dr. Riaz Anwar for the National Games medal winners, no one is there to appreciate the athletes. He said even in Balochistan, AJK, Islamabad, Sindh and Punjab players were given cash prizes on winning medals but the players of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been deprived of such encouragement.
He said that if the players do not get the prize money, then the responsibility of the poor performance in the upcoming inter-provincial games will fall on the provincial government. There are individual medals, due to lack of funds, our squad was less than the squads of other provinces. “We had a squad of 437 and we beat 600 players from Balochistan and 500 players from Punjab, which is quite encouraging on the part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa players,” Aqil Shah said, adding, “we had not swimming event due to no swimming pool facilities, otherwise our province would have been at the sixth place.
Two young sisters from Sindh won gold and silver medals for their province and not only increased the good name of their province but also lowered the position of our province by a notch. Compared to other provinces, our performance was very good, but the players of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan have already received the prize money two months ago, while our children are still deprived, they have demanded the provincial government to have mercy on these children. “The players rights should be given as soon as possible so that the players can actively participate in the upcoming national and inter-provincial games,” Aqil Shah concluded.
