PESHAWAR: A weeklong inter institution sports festival kicked off at the Qayyum Sport Complex amid much fanfare in Peshawar on Friday.
Chairperson Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Standing Committee on Sports, Culture and Tourism Shufguta Malik was chief guest at this occasion and opened six days long sports gala.
These sports festival are being arranged by a private event management company BAQ 7, in cooperation with the US Consulate Peshawar. Other companies have also lent sponsorship to the event.
At the start of the festival, athlete Zeeshan Javed Khan lit the games torch, followed by the march past of the participating teams.
Qazi Tufil, an amateur aviator also showed his glider skills amid cheers of jubilant spectators; while a dance troupe of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary (FC) also amused the participants with famous Khattak dance.
Ahmed Qazi, one of the organisers told The Express Tribune that at least eight teams from different universities of Peshawar and other parts of the province were taking parts in the games, and will compete in seven different games, including basket ball, cricket, table tennis, volley ball and athletics.
Qazi said that teams University of Peshawar (UoP), KP Agriculture University, FAST, Institute of Management Sciences (IMSciences) and Professional Academy of Commerce (PAC) and also Abdul Wali Khan University (AWKU) Mardan.
He said that female’ teams from some of the participating universities were also participating in this festival.
Qazi said that they wanted to sports at institutional level, as youths from educational institutions are being ignored in arena of sports.
“We want to encourage them to show their prowess in sports, besides studies,” he added.
Qazi added that event will continue for six days, and its concluding ceremony will be held at Nishtar Hall on March 28.
Talking to reporters, MPA Shaugfta Malik said that it was very heartening to see youths from various institutions participating and competing in sports.
Malik said that such positive activities should be encouraged to promote positive values among youth. She said that there was dearth of good sportsmen in this country and it was necessary to encourage these youngsters.
She said that these games will promote positive image of Peshawar, and also give a message of peace to the society which has been shaken due to the terrorism.
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