PESHAWAR
On behalf of the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan Director General Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Asfandyar Khattak Thursday honored Men and Women Futsal teams of winning gold and bronze medals in the National Futsal Championships held in Quetta, last week.
The Chief Minister announced Rs. 300,000 cash for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Men team of winning gold medal in the 5th Men National Futsal Championship held in Quetta and Rs. 200,000 cash given to KP Female Team who secured bronze medals in the National Women Futsal Championship held in Peshawar on March 8 in connection with the World Women Day.
Talking about the ceremony organized in the honor of the Women and Men Futsal teams, Director General Sports KP Asfandyar Khattak said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is taking historic steps for the promotion of sports and the welfare of athletes which is unprecedented in history.
Director General Sports KP was accompanied by Director Sports Merged Areas Pir Abdullah Shah, Director Project Prime Minister 1000 Sports Facilities Murad Ali Mohmand, General Secretary Pakistan Futsal Federation Dr. Malik Adnan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Futsal Association.
Chairman of the Association Wajihul Hassan and General Secretary Moinuddin, Vice President Azmatullah, President Sports Writers Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ijaz Ahmed Khan, coach of the women’s futsal team Sana Liaqat and players of both the teams were present.
He said under the leadership of Secretary Sports Abid Majeed, grounds are being constructed in all Union Councils, Districts besides construction of a separate Gymnasiums in each seven regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the cost of Rs. 700 million to provide equal facilities and opportunities to women.
He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa became the first province to have 11 hockey turf facilities with the total cost of Rs. 828 million. He said grounds are being constructed in the merged districts at a cost of Rs. 2204 million.
He said that setting a stipend by the provincial government for the medalists of U16 and U21 games is the best initiative on which Rs 234 million is being spent annually. He said as desired by the Chief Minister and to ensure equal opportunities to the female players of the province Gymnasium would be constructed separately for Women in Swat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Mardan, Abbottabad and Peshawar at a cost of Rs 700 million.
Asfandyar Khan Khattak said that the first and unique international standard cricket ground of its kind will be constructed in Kalam. Upgradation of Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium is underway to revive international cricket in the province and also a cricket ground has been constructed in Hayatabad Sports Complex. The ground in Saidu Sharif Swat is also in the pipeline and work is continuing presently. He said revamping work on different sports complexes in various districts is under way to bring it as par with the international standard.
On this occasion, Director General Sports Asfandyar Khattak congratulating the officials, he said that according to the special orders of the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, full financial support is being given to the athletes, which is why a monthly stipend is being given to the athletes on regular basis.
He said currently 1250 male and female medals are getting a monthly stipend of Rs. 10,000 for gold, Rs. 8000 for silver and Rs. 5000 for bronze medals that brought significant reduction in their financial difficulties. He said Chief Minister KP Mahmood Khan also congratulated both Men and Women teams for winning gold and bronze medals in the National Championships.
On the request of the Secretary General of the Pakistan Futsal Federation Dr. Malik Adnan, DG Sports said that the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is winning to hold an International Futsal Championship in Peshawar wherein teams from the Asian countries including a Team from Turkey would participate.
He said that the provincial government has decided to build grounds at the Union Council level for the promotion of sports. He said that any athlete who wins a medal will be given financial support. Finally, DG Sports announced it will hold a National Women Futsal Championship every year on International Women’s Day (March 8).
