Sportsman spirit: Youth festival sees heavy participation despite rain

We have provided women a great platform to exhibit their prowess at dress making and cooking, says minister.

LAHORE:

Even rain did not dampen the enthusiasm of participants on the sixth day of the Punjab Youth Festival’s tehsil level games.

As many as 77,610 young people participated in various competitions across the province on Wednesday. 19,888 of them emerged victorious. In Iqbal Town, 42 of the 84 participants were declared winners. Several competitions were held at the Sanat Zar at Kashmir Block in Iqbal Town.

Awais XI beat Nadeem XI in hardball cricket.

Mehwish Latif won the Family Dress Making competition in Iqbal Town. Saba Ramazan stood second. Hifza Imtal won in the individual cooking event and Sumera Asif stood second. Komal Anees won the family cooking event and Asma Imran stood second.

Minister for Social Welfare Haroon Sultan Bokhari and Social Welfare Secretary Fehmdeeda Mushtaq were chief guests on the occasion.



Bokhari said, “The Punjab Youth Festival has provided women a great platform to exhibit their prowess at dress making and cooking. The participants today have tremendous potential that should be encouraged.”

The final selection of volunteers for the Punjab Youth Festival 2014 has begun at the National Hockey Stadium and Punjab Stadium.

A Punjab Sports Board official said that the recruitment of volunteers would continue till February 10 and more than 17,000 young people would be taken on board.

Aneela Faisal, an official of the human resource classification cell, said the registration of women volunteers was going on in front of the National Hockey Stadium and men were being registered outside the Punjab Stadium sports hall.

In Aziz Bhatti Town, 80 people participated and 40 were declared winners. Shahzad XI beat Rising Star XI in football and Rafi XI defeated Nadeem XI in cricket. As many as 132 people participated in several competitions in Gulberg Town and 26 emerged winners. Asif XI beat Rehman XI in kabaddi and Asad XI defeated Akbar XI in cricket.

Of the 90 people who participated in games held in Samanabad Town, only three qualified for the next round. In the 65kg wrestling event, M Ali Pehalwan defeated Kala Pehalwan and Mithu Pehalwan beat Azam Pehalwan in the 75kg wrestling event.

In Nishtar Town, 56 young people participated and 14 won. Azam XI defeated Ghouri XI and Maqsood XI beat Farrukh XI in cricket. As many as 266 people participated in events held at Ravi Town, 14 of them were declared winners. Ahsan XI beat Ayub XI while Shahbaz XI downed Tigers Club in cricket.

In Data Ganj Bakhsh Town, 90 people participated and three were declared winners. Sajid Majeed defeated Billu Pehalwan in the 65kg wrestling event and Usman defeated Ali Pehalwan in the 75kg wrestling event.

In Shalimar Town, 78 people participated and 39 emerged victorious.

As many as 19,897 people participated in events in Sheikhupura, Kasur and Nankana Sahib districts. 1,065 of them were declared winners. 425 of the 1,869 people who participated in events held at Chakwal, Attock and Jhelum districts of Rawalpindi Division were declared winners.

In Bhakkar, Khushab and Mianwali districts of Sargodha Division, 20,851 people participated in several events and 6,523 of them were declared winners. In Hafizabad, Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujrat and Narowal districts of Gujranwala Division, 1,152 of 2,866 participants emerged victorious.

In Jhang, Toba Tek Singh and Chiniot districts, 1,451 of 3,721 participants won. 749 of the 3,218 participants in Okara and Pakpattan districts won. In Vehari, Lodhran and Khanewal districts, 6,966 people participated and 3,020 emeregd victorious. 1,672 out of 5,491 participants in Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan won. 1,331 of the 3,731 participants won in Rajanpur, Layyah and Muzaffargarh.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2014.