Youth Affairs and Sports Department Punjab and Sports Board Punjab organized football and male and female hockey events on the eve of Independence Day here on Saturday.
Secretary Youth Affairs and Sports Punjab Fuad Hashim Rabbani and Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh were the guests of honour on this occasion. They distributed prizes among the top performers at both the events.
Secretary Youth Affairs and Sports Punjab Fuad Hashim Rabbani cut a cake to celebrate the Independence Day of the country at National Hockey Stadium.
Director Sports Hafeez Bhatti, Deputy Director Chand Perveen, Assistant Director Raees ur Rehman, administrator Nishtar Park Sports Complex Gymnasium Hall Mustfa Shah, Tariq Wattoo, administrator National Hockey Stadium Malik Nasir and a large number of sports enthusiasts were also present on this occasion.
Talking to media, Secretary Youth Affairs and Sports Punjab Fuad Hashim Rabbani said in the wake of growing coronavirus pandemic, we have to curtail the indoor Independence Day sports events as per the directions of Punjab govt. “We are planning to organize a Football League of top clubs in the near future. Besides this a Women Football event is also part of our planning”.
Secretary Youth Affairs and Sports Punjab Fuad Hashim Rabbani said that we have sufficient budget for sports activities. “We are also coordinating with HEC, School and College Education authorities to finalise details of our Sports Calendar events. “Punjab Sports Department is also taking effective measures for the welfare of sports persons and officials under the Sports Endowment Fund.”
Talking to media at National Hockey Stadium, Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh congratulated all the participants on Independence Day. He lauded the media's role for excellent coverage of Independence Day sports competitions.
He said the Punjab govt will extend every possible support to all talented players of the province. “We are also going to organize Punjab’s Fastest Man and Javelin Throw competitions in near future”.
Punjab Stadium hosted an Independence Day football match between Pilot Quaid XI and Fame Iqbal XI on this auspicious occasion where Pilot Quaid XI defeated Fame Iqbal XI on sudden death goal.
It is interesting to note that both the teams failed to score any goal in stipulated time and then both the sides were given 5 kicks each to decide the title match but both teams converted four kicks each. Upon which the match was decided through a sudden death goal contest in which Pilot Quaid XI’s Ahmed struck the decisive goal.
Pilot Quaid XI’s Yasin, Umer, Bilal and Umeed scored the goals in penalty kicks contest while Ahmed, Umer, Abdul Rehman and M Awais netted goals for Fame Iqbal XI.
In the Independence Day men’s hockey match, Quaid XI edged out Liaqat XI by 4-3 on penalty shootout at the National Hockey Stadium. Both the teams failed to score any goal in the allotted time period. Abdur Rehaman was awarded the Man of the Match award. Aleem, Ahmed, Yasin, and Awais scored the goals for the winning team while Shahbaz, Ahmed and M Rabeeh struck one goal each for the losing team.
The Independence Day women’s hockey match was played between Fatima Jinnah XI and Begum Rana Liaqat XI in which Fatima Jinnah XI emerged winner by 3-0 on penalty shoot outs. Ibra, Areeba and Sharika scored for Fatima Jinnah XI. Sana Amanat was awarded Best player’s award.
The winning teams were awarded Rs 15,000 cash prize and trophies while the runners up sides pocketed Rs 10,000 and trophies in hockey and football events. The goalkeepers of the winning team were given a special prize of Rs 2000.