4th Khyber Pakhtunkhwa U-21 Games' Trophy unveiling ceremony to take place tomorrow
The fourth edition of Khyber Pakhtunhwa Under-21 Games are all set to host a record number of 22,907 athletes of 104 Tehsils that will participating in these games.
Report by Ijaz Ahmad;
The trophy unveiling ceremony of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa U-21 Games 2020 will be held tomorrow at Nishtar Hall in Peshawar from 12 to 4 PM and would be hosted by Directorate of Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Senior Minister for Sports, Tourism, Culture and Youth Affairs Muhammad Atif Khan announced in a press conference that a record number of 22,907 athletes of 104 Tehsils of 32 districts including the merger tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be participating in the 4th KP U-21 Games.
The conference was attended by Director General Sports KP Asfandyar Khan Khattak, Director Sports Merged Tribal Area Muhammad Nawaz Khan, Director Operation Syed Saqlain Shah, Deputy Director Sports Aziz Ullah Khan, Deputy Director Development Munir Abbas, President Sports Writers Association Ijaz Ahmad Khan, Col. Mujahid, Noreena Shams (squash player), and officials of the other concerned quarters.
He announced that the pool of the Under-23 Games has been widened up to all 104 Tehsils of 32 districts across KP including 25 Tehsils and Seven Districts of the merger tribal areas. He said cash prizes have been doubled from last year. The gold medal winner of each discipline would be awarded Rs. 100,000, silver medalist would get Rs. 50,000 and third position will be awarded Rs. 25,000 instead of 50,000, 30,000 and 20,000 like last year.
The award of the sports scholarship introduced in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 has also been increased to help the talented players continue their education without facing any hardship as far as the tuition fee from class 9th to Master Classes are concerned.
The pool of the Under-21 Games, which had earlier been famous as U-23 Games, has been widened up to almost 22,907 male and female participants and would be played in 104 Tehsils of 32 districts in the first phase with six discipline comprising football, volleyball, athletics, badminton, kabaddi and tug of war for the men only. There will be no female games at Tehsil level.
In the second phase at District level there will be 10 male and seven female games. A total of 3,616 male players would take part in the following sports:
- Hockey
- Table tennis
- Judo
- Karate
- Taekwondo
- Wrestling
- Basketball
- Gymnastic
- Wushu
- Weightlifting
While 2,624 females will participate in Volleyball, Netball, Athletics, Tug of War, Badminton, Table Tennis and Cricket.
In the third phase at Regional level, there will 2,200 players taking part with 14 men's and 10 women's games where the male games will comprise of Baseball, Handball, Tennis, Archery, Futsal, Handball, Swimming, Cycling, Snooker, Full Contact Karate, Bodybuilding, Boxing, Squash and Chuck ball. For female's there will be 10 different games which include: Baseball, Hockey, Squash, Tennis, Archery, Wushu, Judo, Taekwondo, Basketball and Handball.
He said these traditional and indigenous games and games for the Paralympic would also be part of the Under-23 Games wherein in Traditional and Indigenous Games and Paralympic Games a total of 6000 players would take part.
About the allocation of grant for the fourth edition of the Under-21 Games, he disclosed it would be a two year project, with a total allocation of Rs. 360.44 million for each year. He said focus has been given to the females as well and that is why a separate facility would be established in each Regional Headquarters so that the female athletes could continue their games without any hardship and within our cultural norms and dignified manner.