Sports Board Punjab organized a historic mega cash and motorbikes award ceremony at Alhamra Complex, Shahra-e-Quaid-e-Azam on Saturday.
Cash prizes of around Rs 3 crore, 90 lakh were distributed among 480 male and female athletes who achieved top positions in different national and international sports competitions in recent past.
Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and youth affairs Wahab Riaz, Provincial Ministers Amir Mir, SM Tanveer, Bilal Asghar, Mansoor Qadir, Azfar Nasir, Advisor Kunwar Dilshad Punjab chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zqaman, CCPO Lahore Bilal Siddique Kamyana, Secretary Sports Punjab Raja Jahangir Anwar, Director General Sports Punjab Dr. Asif Tufail and several other dignitaries were also present at the mega event.
Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and youth affairs Wahab Riaz, Secretary Sports Punjab Raja Jahangir Anwar and Director General Sports Punjab Dr. Asif Tufail also distributed cash prizes and motorbikes in the grand ceremony which was attended by hundreds of leading male and female athletes of the province.
Leading position holders of 34th Quetta National Games, Pink Games, Asian Athletics Championship 2023, Rising Punjab Games, Ramzan Sports Series, Junior Asia Cup Hockey Oman, World Snooker and Chess Championship were awarded cash prizes at the historic ceremony.
Cash prizes of 48 lakh rupees were given to 20 players for outstanding performance in the Ramazan sports series. Cash prizes of Rs 1 crore 23 lakh 50 thousand were given to 176 players who got prominent position in Rising Punjab Games. Rs 1 crore 1 lakh cash prizes were given to 122 athletes who performed prominently in the 34th National Games.
132 women athletes who performed prominently in Pink Games 2023 were given Rs 50 lakh cash prizes. A collective prize of 36 lakh rupees was given to the silver medal winning team in the Junior Asian Hockey Tournament.
Javelin thrower M Yasir who won bronze medal was given Rs 1,000,000. A total of Rs 4.8 million were awarded to hockey players in the shape of Rs 20,000 per month stipend for a year.
Para-athlete Haider Ali, who won a gold medal in the Paralympic Games, was also awarded a cash prize of Rs 20 lakh. As many as 150 Tehsil sports officers were given motorbikes and cash prizes were also given to 11 Tehsil Sports Officers who have shown the best performance in Sports Clubs Registration.
Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Sports and youth affairs Wahab Riaz presented an in-depth overview of Punjab Sports department’s performance, major events and achievements during the last one year period.
Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz said the Directorate General Sports & Youth Affairs Punjab implemented a sports calendar to streamline the sporting activities in Punjab. “Over the last 8 to 10 months, various calendar activities took place across Punjab, including the U-16 Talent Hunt Programme, Rising Punjab Games, Pink Games, and Ramzan ul Mubarak Sports Series”.
He said that these kinds of measures have never been taken in the history of Punjab province. “The top performing athletes in various national and international sports competitions are our true heroes and they deserved to be honoured fully”.
Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz further said that Sports Board Punjab has taken several unique measures for the true promotion of sports culture which have never been taken in the past. “We have completed a perfect Annual Sports Calendar besides initiating sports club registration campaign in all parts of the province. “Sports clubs have been registered for the first time in the history of Punjab,” he added.
Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister on Sports and Youth Affairs Wahab Riaz said that the TSOs have showed best performance in registration of sports clubs. “All possible measures are being taken for the development of sports culture in all parts of the province”.
Following TSOs were given cash award of Rs 50,000 each: Shabina Hamid TSO Faisalabad, Saeed Ahmed TSO Rawalpindi, Adnan Saleem TSO Sialkot, M Asim Bhatti TSO Bahawalpur, M Umair TSO Rahim Yar Khan, M Rehmat Ullah Sial TSO DG Khan, Saima Manzoor TSO Sargodha, Maqbool Ahmad TSO Nankana Sahib, Malik Tassawar Hussain TSO Jaranwala and Farman Kausar TSO Gujranwala.