Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muzaffar Khan Sial has presided over an important meeting at the Punjab Stadium on Thursday regarding U-16 Talent Hunt Programme and Punjab Sports Endowment Fund.
Director General Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Khizar Afzaal Chaudhary, Additional Secretary Sports Mian Usman Ali, Deputy Secretary Sports Rafia Qayyum, Director Sports Rana Nadeem Anjum, Director Admin Abid Shaukat, M Farhan from PMU and officers of GM Pension Fund participated in the meeting.
Director General Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Khizar Afzaal Chaudhary gave a detailed briefing regarding U-16 Talent Hunt Programme and Punjab Sports Endowment Fund.
Addressing the meeting, Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muzaffar Khan Sial said that Under-16 Talent Hunt Programme is being started in Punjab from January 2026. “Several potential athletes will come to the fore from tehsil level to the division level through this valuable program”.
He said Under-16 Talent Hunt Programme has great significance for the development of sports and that’s why this programme will be conducted on annual basis. “The competitions of various games such as hockey, badminton, athletics, football, taekwondo etc will be organized under this programme”.
Highlighting multiple features of Sports Endowment Fund, Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muzaffar Khan Sial said that top performing athletes of diverse games from Punjab are being included in the Sports Endowment Fund.
As many as 47 players were evaluated in the meeting for inclusion in the Sports Endowment Fund. Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muzaffar Khan Sial gave approval to more than 42 players out of these athletes for inclusion in the fund.
Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muzaffar Khan Sial informed that currently, around 100 players are being given Sports Endowment Fund scholarships. “The monthly scholarships of Rs 70,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 30,000 are being given to top performing athletes under three categories Platinum, Gold and Silver respectively. Rs 15,000 per month is being given to the players in the emerging category,” he informed.
Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muzaffar Khan Sial further said that Punjab Chief Minister has established a Rs 2 billion Sports Endowment Fund for the welfare of athletes. “The amount of Punjab Sports Endowment Fund is being spent on the welfare of the players in a transparent manner”.