Faisalabad division hockey team outplayed Sahiwal team by a big margin of 4-0 to win Summer Games 2024 hockey title at National Hockey Stadium here on Thursday evening.
Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar graced the occasion as chief guest. He also distributed cash prizes, medals and trophies among the players and officials of both the teams. The Faisalabad division team was awarded the winners' trophy and a cheque of Rs 6 lakh while the Sahiwal team was given runners-up trophy and a cheque of Rs 3 lakh.
Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muzaffar Khan Sial, Director General Sports Punjab Pervez Iqbal, Director Admin M Kaleem, Director Youth Affairs Rana Nadeem Anjum, Director Sports Yasmeen Akhtar were also present on this occasion.
Besides them, Divisional Sports Officers Tariq Nazir (Faisalabad), Rauf Bajwa (Sahiwal), Olympian Tariq Imran, Deputy Director Ata ur Rehman, Deputy Director Zahoor Ahmed, Chief Sports Consultant Hafeez Bhatti, Administrator National Hockey Stadium Abdul Qayyum also attended the prize distribution ceremony.
Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muzaffar Khan Sial also presented a souvenir to Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar on this occasion.
It may be noted here that the competitions of Summer Games 2024 are being organized at different venues of Nishtar Park Sports Complex under the auspices of Punjab Sports and Youth Affairs Department.
Addressing the prize distribution ceremony, Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar announced that a hockey astro-turf will be laid in Sahiwal in near future. “Sahiwal hockey team has played the final despite having fewer number of facilities and resources”.
He said that the final of the Summer Games Hockey event was played at the largest hockey stadium of the world. “International matches will also be played at this great venue in near future”.
Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar said that Punjab Sports Department will organize Punjab Games in the next few months in which 16 games will be contested. “The prizes of worth Rs 10 crore will be distributed among participating players of the Punjab Games”.
Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar said that Punjab Sports Department will continue to conduct events like Summer Games in future to provide sufficient playing opportunities to talented athletes of the province. “Our Scrutiny Committee has selected the talented players of this event as well and the selected players will be awarded Rs 70,000 monthly stipend”.
Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar said that every child will be seen playing in the fields under the vision of Chief Minister Punjab. “Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz is very active for the promotion of sports”.
He said 50 new grounds will be built in the upcoming ADP under Khailta Punjab campaign. “By the end of the financial year, best sports complexes will be built in all tehsils of Punjab”.
Faisalabad Division hockey team dominated the match proceedings right from the beginning. They did not give any room to Sahiwal boys to settle down and won the title encounter convincingly by 4-0. M Hussain struck two goals while Rana Danish and M Shakeel scored one each for victorious Faisalabad Division.