Lahore: The Inter-Division phase of Khelta Punjab Games exploded into action with a grand colourful inaugural ceremony at the Punjab Stadium on Thursday.
Senior Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Provincial Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Faisal AyubKhokhar, Punjab Information Minister AzmaBokhari and Punjab Local Govt Minister Bilal Yasin were the guests of honour on this occasion.
Besides them, senior political leaders SaifulMalookKhokhar, Ghazali Butt, MPA Hafiz Noman, MPA ShahbazKhokhar, Commissioner Lahore Zaid bin Maqsood, Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muzaffar Khan Sial, Secretary Mines and Minerals Punjab Pervez Iqbal, Director General Sports Punjab KhizarAfzaal, Director Sports RanaNadeemAnjum, Director Admin Dr M Kaleem and other notables were also present at the mega inaugural ceremony.
Top sports stars including Olympic Javelin Throw Gold MedallistArshadNadeem, world tennis star and President Pakistan Tennis Federation AisamulHaqQureshi, RanaAtif of Lahore Qalandars, weightlifter NoohDastgir Butt, Olympian KhJunaid, former kabaddi captain ShafiqChishti, international Javelin Thrower Yasir Sultan, athlete FaiqaRiaz, Olympian ShabanaAkhtar and Sohail Adnan were also present on this occasion.
Over 2000 male and female players from all divisions under the leadership of their respective divisional sports officers took part in march past in the opening ceremony. President Pakistan Tennis Federation AisamulHaqQureshi took oath from all the participating athletes before the commencement of competitions.
Young athletes KinzaSarfraz, KanzulEman, Shandana, M Abdullah, Mahnoor Imran and Shafiq Ali Khan ran with the torch and lit the Khelta Punjab Games torch at Punjab Stadium.
Besides this, several singers, regional dancers and artists won huge appreciation from a large crowd for their impressive performances. The Punjab Stadium was full of thousands of passionate sports lovers during the grand opening ceremony.
Addressing the grand opening ceremony, Provincial Minister for Sports Malik Faisal AyubKhokhar welcomed the Punjab Chief Minister, Parliamentarians, National Heroes and young sports players to the inauguration ceremony. 'Chief Minister Punjab had announced the restoration of sports culture in her first speech after was elected chief minister of the province'.
Provincial Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Faisal AyubKhokhar said that sports marks should be awarded to students at school and college level. 'Through this measure, the sports culture could be promoted among the youth of the province quite effectively'.
Provincial Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Faisal AyubKhokhar said that the previous government had made Punjab Sports Complexes deserted through their strange policies. 'Punjab Chief Minister has allocated funds of crores of rupees and restored 58 sports complexes across the province'.
Provincial Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Faisal AyubKhokhar further informed that 120,000 male and female athletes have registered for Khelta Punjab Games. 'As many as 2,200 young players are participating in the third and last phase of Khelta Punjab Games'.
Provincial Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Faisal AyubKhokhar further said that several of these players will become top sports stars like Olympian ArshadNadeem and Aisam-ul-Haq in future. '6,000 talented youth are was given scholarships from Sports Endowment Fund for the first time under CM Internship Program'.
Provincial Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Malik Faisal AyubKhokhar said that there is no shortage of talent in Punjab. 'We are quite hopeful that several new players will emerge from sports promotion measures was taken by Punjab Sports Department'.
He said that under Chief Minister Internship Programme, Rs 25,000 are was awarded to the talented youth for a period of six months. 'Country's first ever state-of-the-art Squash Complex was stalled for several decades. The coveted Squash Complex project will be completed in a period of six months at a cost of Rs 50 crore'.
Punjab Minister for Sports Malik Faisal AyubKhokhar stated that the Chief Minister of Punjab has released an endowment fund of two billion rupees for the development of sports.