The Rising Punjab Games 2024 exploded into action with a grand colourful inaugural ceremony at the National Hockey Stadium on Thursday.
Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz and Provincial Information Minister Amir Mir were the guests of honour on this occasion.
Besides them, Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Raja Jahangir Anwer, Director General Sports Punjab Dr Asif Tufail, Deputy Secretary Sports Liaqat Ali, Director Sports Yasmeen Akhtar, Director Youth Affairs Rana Nadeem Anjum and Deputy Directors Zahoor Ahmed and Ataur Rahman, top sports figures including Olympian Tauqeer Dar, Olympian Khalid Bashir and other notables were also present at the mega inaugural ceremony.
Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz announced the opening of Rising Punjab Games 2024 while Provincial Information Minister Amir Mir took oath from all participating teams, players and officials.
Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz, Provincial Information Minister Amir Mir and Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Raja Jahangir Anwer inaugurated Rising Punjab Games by playing hockey for a while.
Talking to media, Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz thanked Punjab Chief Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi for patronizing and extending every kind of support to Punjab’s sports fraternity. “It is Punjab Chief Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi’s overwhelming support due to which we managed to take such revolutionary measures for the promotion of sports culture in the province that have never been taken in the past. He always encouraged sports activities and promoted the sports culture among the younger generation”.
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. “Now all athletes, officials and sports organisations will have complete information about all the sports activities and events of the year and their incentives as well 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. “In the first phase, we are organising competitions of six in the Rising Punjab Games and the top performing players will be given Rs 70,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 30,000 stipends per month in three categories A, B and C. We are taking this initiative to treat and honour our players in such a pattern which is being practiced in the developed world”.
Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz said that a Sports Endowment Fund of Rs 2 billion has been established and Punjab Chief Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi had a key role in the approval of this historic Sports Endowment Fund. “The money of Sports Endowment Fund will be spent for the welfare of deserving and veteran players and the top performing deserving players will also be given monthly stipends”.
Adviser to CM Punjab on Sports Wahab Riaz said that it is first time in Punjab’s sports history that crores of rupees will be distributed among the participating teams in the shape of cash prizes and monthly stipends. “The main objective of the monthly stipends is to make players financially prosperous so that they can focus on their game fully”. Moreover, the Punjab teams will be formed in all games comprising top performing players of Rising Punjab Games”.
Adviser to CM Punjab on Sports Wahab Riaz further said that Sports and Youth Affairs Department Punjab has established Institute of Sports Sciences Punjab (ISSP) for the international standard training of coaches and players of the province. “ISSP will play an important role for the development of sports across the province and international Master Trainers will also be invited at Institute of Sports Sciences Punjab for imparting world class training to our coaches and players," he elaborated.
Adviser to CM Punjab on Sports Wahab Riaz said that more than 950 male and female players from all divisions of the province are participating in the competitions of six games during the 16-day Rising Punjab Games.
Elaborating the details, Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz informed that the inter-division competitions of two games - hockey and volleyball will be conducted from January 18 to 22 in the first phase of Rising Punjab Games. “The competitions of football and badminton will be organised from January 23 to 27 in the second phase while in the third phase, the events of athletics and table tennis will be conducted from January 30 to February 2”.
In his media talk, Provincial Information Minister Amir Mir congratulated Sports Board Punjab for holding the Rising Punjab Games. “It is the first time that all divisional teams of the province are being engaged in competitive sports events in the winter season.”
Appreciating the initiative of Rising Punjab Games, Provincial Information Minister Amir Mir further said that it is definitely a very useful activity and the basic purpose of these games is to unearth talented players from all parts of the province. “These budding players will take part in sports competitions throughout the year under a proper system and will be rewarded with hefty cash prizes and stipends,” he added.
Director General Sports Punjab Dr Asif Tufail also spoke to media at the inaugural ceremony and elaborated the major features of Rising Punjab Games 2024.
The first match of Rising Punjab Games Hockey Championship was played between Faisalabad and Multan. This match ended at 1-1 draw while Sargodha outplayed Gujranwala by 4-0 in the second match of the day. Sahiwal division hockey team stunned Lahore team by 3-2 in the third match of the day.
In Rising Punjab Games Volleyball Championship, Rawalpindi division defeated Sargodha by 2-0 margin while Sahiwal team emerged winners against Bahawalpur team by the same score.