Director General Sports Punjab Dr Asif Tufail presided over an important meeting regarding formation of Punjab teams and devising a roadmap to award monthly stipend to top performing athletes of recently concluded Rising Punjab Games at National Hockey Stadium on Monday.
Director Youth Affairs Rana Nadeem Anjum, Deputy Director Atta ur Rehman, Assistant Director Waseem Asghar and other officials attended the key meeting in person while all Divisional Sports Officers of the province participated through video link.
Addressing the meeting, Director General Sports Punjab Dr Asif Tufail said that several talented players have emerged from Rising Punjab Games 2024. “We are devising a mechanism to award scholarships to the high performing players from March this year,” he added.
Director General Sports Punjab Dr Asif Tufail further said that the top performing male and female athletes of Inter-Division sports competitions will be given Rs 70,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 30,000 per month in three categories Diamond, Gold and Silver for one year. “Definitely, these stipends will play a key role in creating great inspiration among the rest of the athletes to improve their game skills”.
Director General Sports Punjab Dr Asif Tufail informed that the training camps for top athletes will also be set up soon to polish their sports skills and prepare them for bigger national sports events. “The Under-16 Talent Hunt Programme has great significance in the development of sports. The purpose of Annual Sports Calendar is the development of sports culture across the province”.
Director General Sports Punjab Dr Asif Tufail said that holding Rising Punjab Games smoothly is a big success. “The Rising Punjab Games 2024 is an important event of Annual Sports Calendar to trace fresh talent and potential players for the formulation of Punjab Teams of Elite Players to represent Punjab in the forthcoming national level events particularly 35th National Games”.
Director General Sports Punjab Dr Asif Tufail directed all the conveners of six sports disciplines of Rising Punjab Games selection committee to give their complete output regarding selection and categorization of players to be nominated for scholarships and formulation of Punjab teams. “The selection of athletes for scholarships and formulation of Punjab teams must be purely on the basis of their performance in the Inter-Division Rising Punjab Games sports events”.
Director General Sports Punjab Dr Asif Tufail said that Sports Board Punjab’s effective measures will leave long lasting and durable impact on the future of sports in the Punjab province. He also directed all the sports officers of Punjab to shift their offices to stadiums to enhance coordination between players and officials.
While reviewing the process of club registration, Director General Sports Punjab Dr Asif Tufail said that there is no doubt that the registration of sports clubs is a unique and most important campaign for the growth of true sports culture in the province. “It is for the first time in Punjab’s sports history that thousands of genuine sports clubs are being registered from all tehsils of Punjab”.
The registration of mass-wrestling and dodgeball clubs was also reviewed in the meeting.