Last week Lahore witnessed a good number of women activities in different sports, indicating they have a potential to do wonders at the international level if they are patronised by the government.

The first National Women Baseball Championship was organized at the Punjab Stadium where the Higher Education Commission clinched the title after beating Punjab in the final.

The army and three other provinces also fielded their women’s teams in the event. The victory of HEC shows the game is getting popular in educational institutions and the army, which failed to reach the final, must be worrying about the decline in the performance despite being equipped with better resources.

Girls from Punjab deserve appreciation for making way into the final in the presence of a professional team of army.

The HEC victory will inspire other girl students to take part in sports as educational institutions can provide lots of quality players. But the HEC still has to improve its standard in other sports.

The Punjab Archery Association hosted its first Open Punjab Championship at the Punjab Stadium in which 28 women from across the country participated in a one-day event.

Rabia Momin of Islamabad and Syeda Sajjab Fatima of Lahore remained winners in the senior and junior categories, respectively. Syeda Ayesha Momina was declared the best archer in the challenge category.

The archery is recently introduced at the national scene and it will take some time to establish its authority in the sports community.

Rabia, who was happy for winning the prize of being the best senior archer, said though Pakistani women were lagging far behind, she was hopeful they would soon make their name in the international circuit.

She urged the government to facilitate archers because they could not earn victories at the international level without the patronage of the government.

Meanwhile, 16 women weightlifters were also selected to represent Pakistan in the International Sports Festival to be organized with the collaboration of the Sports Board Punjab next month.

The women weightlifters are currently attending a training session at the Railways Stadium. The Pakistan Weightlifting Federation had introduced women in the game about three years back.

It seems the federation’s efforts have started bearing fruits as a good number of female weightlifters have emerged at the national level.

Lahore is also hosting a four-nation 1st T20 Deaf Asia Cricket Cup next week in which teams from Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka will participate.

The foreign teams have already reached Lahore. All matches will be played at the Lahore City Cricket Association ground till April 26. The presence of three foreign teams will be significant in persuading other foreign countries to visit Pakistan without any fear of security.

Pakistan Blind Cricket Association president Abdul Salam said six countries had been invited but only three confirmed their participation.

He claimed Pakistan had picked a very strong team and hopefully our team would win the Asia Cup.

The Lahore Electricity Supply Corporation (Lesco) won the 45th Annual Wapda Inter-Unit Sports Competition Trophy.

A grand ceremony was held here to award prizes among position holders. Wapda is the real force in sports at the national level after army.

Wapda chairman Zafar Mahmood, who is also a patron-in-chief of Wapda Sports Board, was the chief guest. The Fesco and Gepco claimed the second and third positions, respectively.

The 5th National Veterans T-20 Cricket Tournament is also continuing in the provincial capital and has reached the final stage.

Omer Associates, Karachi, and Lahore Lions will play the final next week at the LCCA ground. Players over 50 years of age are eligible to participate in the tournament. Overall 10 teams from across the country have participated in the tournament.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2015

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