Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Dr Najeebullah called on Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz at the National Hockey Stadium on Wednesday.
Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Raja Jahangir Anwar and Director General Sports Punjab Dr Asif Tufail were also present in the high-profile meeting.
Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Dr Najeebullah thoroughly discussed the promotion of sports culture in the two provinces and agreed to work together for the promotion of sports in both the provinces. Besides this all possible options including a bilateral player exchange programme were discussed in detail during the meeting.
Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz said under the inter-provincial player exchange program, KP teams will visit Punjab and Punjab teams will go to KP to play sports events. “This program will help a lot in improving the standard of sports in both provinces. There should be an MoU on the exchange program of players between the provinces”.
In a joint media talk, Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz said that both Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have plenty of sports talent and we need to adopt such a joint strategy through which some concrete measures could be taken for the growth of games and welfare of sports fraternity. “We are planning to organize an international sports competition at Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar in near future and in this regard effective efforts are underway,” he added.
Answering a question, Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz said that all possible options including exchange programmes have been examined during our meeting with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Dr Najeebullah. “Under proposed exchange programme, different sports teams from all provinces will play in other provinces and it would be the best opportunity and platform for young talented athletes of all the provinces to demonstrate their potential at a bigger stage”.
Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz said that this kind of platforms are essential for emerging youth so that they can exhibit and polish their talent at national level before representing the country at international level. “We have shared several ideas with each other to find a suitable way out so that all the talented athletes of all the provinces could be given sufficient playing opportunities”.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Dr Najeebullah on this occasion said that there should be sports and cultural exchange programmes not only between Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but all the four provinces of the country. “It would be very nice if Wahab Riaz leads this revolutionary initiative. In this regard, we are going to hold a meeting of all provinces to finalise a mutual sports calendar”.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Dr Najeebullah further said that sports is such a component that brings people close irrespective of their region, ethnic, religion and culture. “It is the need of the hour to give sports a top priority to promote unity, harmony and integrity among the people of all the provinces,” he added.
Earlier, talking in the meeting, Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz said that a compact Annual Sports Calendar has been formulated for the first time in the history of Punjab province. “Definitely, launching a proper Annual Sports Calendar is the right step in the right direction. Now every athlete and sports body has complete information about all the sports activities and events of the year lying ahead and they can prepare themselves in a better way accordingly”.
Adviser to CM Punjab on Sports Wahab Riaz said that there will be competitions in 18 sports disciplines under Annual Sports Calendar Programme. “We are also organising the Punjab Rising Star Games under this programme and the top performing players will be given Rs 70,000, 50,000 and 30,000 per month as stipends”.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sports Minister Dr Najeebullah highly appreciated the Annual Sports Calendar of Sports Board Punjab. “It is a very good initiative and it will help a lot in bringing out the fresh talent from the grassroots level,” he added.
He said that both the provinces will work together for the development of sports. “Arbab Niaz Stadium is going to conduct an exhibition match in the near future. Children should be given more opportunities to play”.