LAHORE, July 11: As many as 56 events and 13 sports competitions will be held among seven sectors at the union council level in the second phase of the Punjab Sports and Youth Festival 2012 to be held after Eidul Fitr in August.

Competitions at the union council level will be held after the completion of the neighbourhood and village level contests, said Sports Board’s Punjab Director-General Usman Anwar here on Wednesday.

The total prize money of Rs278,000 would be distributed among the winners of different events, he said. Similar to the neighbourhood and village competitions, the individual, family and team events would also be held for the people belonging to all walks of life.

“For the general public, competitions will be held in wrestling, athletics, badminton, basketball, billiard and snooker, chess, cricket (tennis ball), football, tug-of-war, volleyball, bodybuilding, weightlifting and hockey,” he added.

“Through these events we want to create a healthy culture of sports in modern as well as in traditional sports and, by that way, we can contribute to the overall development of sports in Punjab”, he said.

The provincial government has pumped billions of rupees into sports festivals to attract the youth, many believe it to be an attempt to fail Imran Khan’s politics, who has good standing among the youth.

Only some three months back, it has spent Rs2 billion in the Chief Minister Punjab Cup, and now it is feared that another heavy amount will be allocated for holding another festival-type competition.

The provincial government, however, is reluctant to announce the entire budget of festivals.

Meanwhile, Mr Anwar said the Punjab government, under the vision of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, was striving hard to create a new culture of sports among people belonging to all walks of life.

“The youth is the future of our country and through sports and youth festivals we are aiming to identify the new talent for our future needs,” he said.

The events for individual, family and team categories will include cooking, horticulture, mushaira, na’at khwani, pet competitions, photography, qirat, songs/milli naghme/poetry, debates, dress designing/stitching, handicraft, painting, kitchen gardening, healthy baby competitions, street art and essay writing while bull race, dog race, tippling/pigeon flying, donkey cart race and horse race have been reserved for the rural sector public.

Apart from the individual, family and team events, the elementary and secondary school levels students have also been invited to get involved in healthy extra-curricular activities and students will contest in debate, essay writing, milli naghme (national songs), na’at khwani, painting, qirat, cultural models, cooking, dress show, handicraft and science models competitions.

“Inter-sports and Youth Development Council matches and competitions will be held between sports and youth councils of each union council while there will also be competitions between participating teams and individuals at the same level,” he said.