Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Taimoor Masood inaugurated Sports Board Punjab’s Swimming Academy at State of the Art Punjab International Swimming Complex on Monday.
Director General Sports Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi, Director Admin Syed Umair Hassan, Chief Sports Consultant Hafeez Bhatti, Coordinator/Focal Person of Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Rana Arslan Manj, DSO Tanveer Shah, Divisional Swimming Coach Rafi uz Zaman and other top officials also attended the ceremony.
As many as eight qualified coaches will impart top class training to 50 male and female participants in U-6 to U-16 age group categories at the academy under the supervision of FINA qualified coach Hafeez Bhatti.
Talking to media, Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Taimoor Masood said the Swimming Academy is being launched for the promotion of swimming among the young generation of the province. “This academy is a continuation of our talent hunt campaign in different games. In recent days, we have launched tennis and table tennis academies in Nishtar Park Sports Complex,” he informed.
Answering a question, Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Taimoor Masood said State of the Art Punjab International Swimming Complex is equipped with all modern facilities and we are quite upbeat that we will be able to produce several world class swimming players through our Swimming Academy. “We are developing 3, 4 more international standard swimming pools in other cities of the province to provide playing opportunities to the athletes of these cities near their residences,” he added.
Talking on this occasion, Director General Sports Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi said that the launching of Swimming Academy is part of our sports promotion plan. “Swimming has been quite famous in the world and our academy will play a key part in further popularizing the game of swimming in the province. We are focusing on reviving school sports and preparing a bunch of talented teen age players in different games”.