Punjab government in accordance with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has presented excellent performance and recorded exceptional achievements in the sports field during the last three years.
Punjab govt took the promotion of sports in the province as a challenge and launched this mission systematically under three tiers – Infrastructure Initiatives, Sports Initiatives and Enabling Framework.
Punjab Youth Affairs and Sports Department and Sports Board Punjab under the leadership of Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti have taken extraordinary measures for the sports promotion among young generation across the province; these views were expressed by Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information & Spokesperson Punjab Govt Hasaan Khawar while addressing a joint press conference along with Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti at National Hockey Stadium on Wednesday.
Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Information & Spokesperson Punjab Govt Hasaan Khawar and Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti also announced the launching of SBP’s Newsletter on this occasion.
Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Fuad Hashim Rabbani, Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh and other top officials were also present on this occasion.
Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information & Spokesperson Punjab Govt Hasaan Khawar said the sports sector was totally ignored during the previous eras and the incomplete boxing and squash arenas in Nishtar Park Sports Complex are the best examples of the anti-sports behaviour of the previous governments.
Presenting Punjab govt’s 3-year sports performance, Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti said: We are going to build 66 multipurpose tehsil sports complexes and 465 soft sports facilities in rural areas of Punjab. 15 tehsil multipurpose sports complexes have been completed while the construction work is underway on 38 projects.
“100 plus Open Air Gymnasiums in parks and other sports venues will be constructed. Right now, we have identified 9 divisional jails for establishing Open Air Gymnasiums so that the inmates could also take part in healthy activities. 500 villages have also been identified for developing soft sports
facilities. 25 PHA parks have been located for establishing open air gymnasiums”.
Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti further said that two cricket High Performance Centres will be built in Faisalabad and Sialkot and one hockey High Performance Centre will be established in Lahore to provide world class facilities, training gear to coaches and players as well. “We are also establishing the country's first ever Punjab Olympic Village at Rakh Chabeel at 96 acres of land with the cost of Rs 4 billion”.
“The construction of Squash Complex in Nishtar Park Sports Complex remained neglected for three decades and we are building this project speedily and hopefully this project will be completed during next year”.
Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti said an international tartan track is also being built in Sahiwal. Similarly, we are also preparing six practice tennis courts adjacent to the tennis stadium in Nishtar Park Sports Complex.
He said as far as Sports Initiatives of the province are concerned, we organized Punjab Games after a gap of 8 years in 2019 and the next edition of Punjab Games will be held in March 2022. “We also organized the historic Kabaddi World Cup in 2020, Quaid-e-Azam Inter-Division Sports Championships, and several other events of multiple sports including recently-played 5-a-Side First CM Punjab National Women Hockey Championship in Lahore”.
Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti said Punjab’s first ever sports policy has also been approved by the Provincial Cabinet. He said a comprehensive Sports Policy has been prepared and now a true sports culture will grow in the province