The Pak-China Friendship Games concluded with a colourful closing ceremony attended by a large number of male and female athletes from all provinces of the country.
Punjab Minister for Sports Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar was the chief guest at the closing ceremony and distributed Rs55 million in prize money among the winning teams.
Lahore Division secured first position in the Pak-China Friendship Games with 31 gold medals, followed by Faisalabad with 11 gold medals, while Rawalpindi finished third with five gold medals.
Vice Chairman Sports Board Punjab Salman Malik, Secretary Sports Punjab Fazal-ur-Rehman, Director General Sports Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi, Director Sports Munawar Hussai, Director Admin Abid Shaukat, Deputy Director Zahoor Ahmed, all Divisional Sports Officers, officials, organisers, media representatives and our young athletes were also present at the largely attended closing ceremony.
Addressing the meeting, Punjab Minister for Sports Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar said that around 2,000 athletes participated in the Pak-China Friendship Games. “All the winning athletes would be awarded scholarships on behalf of Punjab Chief Minister”.
Punjab Minister for Sports Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar said that the Pak-China Friendship Games had gained popularity internationally and that articles about the event had also been published in India. “During a recent meeting between CM Punjab Maryam Nawaz and the Spanish ambassador, both sides had agreed to promote football. Punjab government is taking comprehensive measures for the development of football”.
Talking about the CM Punjab Youth Games, Punjab Minister for Sports Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar said that the provincial government is going to create a new record through the mega event in which around 10 million athletes from Punjab would participate. “The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a revolutionary project which created employment opportunities for thousands of people”.
Addressing the closing ceremony, Secretary Sports Punjab Fazal-ur-Rehman said that he had a detailed meeting with Chinese Consul General in Lahore Mr Sun Yan before opening ceremony in which different ways and means were discussed to further promote cooperation between Pakistan and China in the fields of youth affairs and sports.
Secretary Sports Punjab Fazal-ur-Rehman said that Pakistan and China are collaborating in multiple fields including health education and defence and this is right time for both countries to collaborate in important areas like youth engagement and sports.
Secretary Sports Punjab Fazal-ur-Rehman saif that he presented a plan to Chinese Consul General in Lahore Mr Sun Yan under which China should send its expert coaches to Pakistan for the training of Pakistan coaches and player and Pakistan will send its potential players to China for further grooming and training.
Secretary Sports Punjab Fazal-ur-Rehman said that all the players have exhibited great potential and involvement in the Pak-China Games. “It is our duty to provide them enabling environment to prepare themselves for future int’l events”.
Secretary Sports Punjab Fazal-ur-Rehman said that sports have become an industry all over the world and for this purpose, we are going to engage private sector to participate in sports events and share the burden of the government.
Director General Sports Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi, on this occasion said that as per government directions, all departments are celebrating Pak-China Friendship and in this regard, Punjab Sports department organised Pak-China Friendship Games. “A total of 70,000 players appeared in the trials and out of them best 2000 were selected to participate in Pak-China Friendship Games. The athletes from all provinces, AJK, Islamabad, Gilgit Baltistan and KPK also participated in the mega event of tai chi”.
Director General Sports Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi said that Punjab Sports Department took revolutionary initiative of CM Punjab Academies to impart true training to talented athletes across the province. “We are following Chinese model of giving equal importance to education and sports”.
Director General Sports Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi said that Punjab government is also awarding scholarships to top performing athletes under Punjab Sports Endowment Fund. “We are also going to organize several top sports events including CM Punjab Youth Games under our Annual Sports Calendar Programme”.
The Chinese Tai Chi demonstration and competitions were one of the highlights of the games in which participants from all provinces and units participated. The top three positions in Tai Chi were secured by Punjab, Balochistan and Islamabad, respectively.
In athletics, Faisalabad won the boys’ title, while Lahore clinched the girls’ title. In badminton, Rawalpindi won the boys’ title, while Sargodha secured the girls’ title. In basketball, Lahore won both the boys’ and girls’ titles. In football, Lahore won the title, while Bahawalpur finished runners-up. In gymnastics, Lahore won both the boys’ and girls’ titles.
In table tennis, Lahore won the girls’ title. In volleyball, Faisalabad won both the boys’ and girls’ titles. In wushu, Lahore won the girls’ title, while Rawalpindi secured the boys’ title. In weightlifting, Lahore won the boys’ title. In tennis, Lahore won the boys’ title.
Boys participated in 11 sports disciplines, while girls competed in eight disciplines, providing our young athletes with valuable opportunities to demonstrate their talent and competitive skills.