Last week, five heroes who won medals in the 21st Commonwealth Games landed in Lahore. The games were held in Gold Coast, Australia, from April 4 to 15. Among the medal winners, three were wrestlers - Inam Butt (gold) and Muhammad Bilal and Tayyab Raza (bronze). Weightlifters Muhammad Nooh Dastgir and Talha Talib also won bronze medals. Upon landing in Lahore, wrestlers received a warm welcome while the weightlifters, who landed a day before them, were hardly noticed by the public.

The day when wrestlers arrived in Lahore, the national hockey team also landed at the Lahore airport without any medal. Hopefully, both wrestlers and weightlifters will receive cash prizes from certain quarters for winning honours for the national flag. The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) staged a reception in their honour at the Olympic House, soon after their arrival.

POA president retired Lt-Gen Syed Arif Hasan handed over a cheque for Rs300,000 to gold medalist Inam Butt and Rs100,000 each to the four bronze medalists and their coaches. The POA president said when Inam was fighting in Gold Coast for the gold medal, the authorities of the Gujranwala Stadium were busy getting his training room vacated at the stadium. Moreover, medal winners were from Punjab, but the provincial sports minister had yet to announce any incentive for these five heroes and that is unfortunate. The medalists deserve a grand reception and hefty cash prizes from the provincial government.

Pakistan stood 24th in the Commonwealth Games. The overall performance of Pakistan in these games is slightly better from the last edition held in Glasgow, Scotland, four years back, where the country could not bag any gold medal. Then the contingent came back with three silvers and one bronze medals. However, last time, Pakistan claimed the 23rd place in Glasgow.

The next challenge for Pakistan is the Asian Games being held in Indonesia from Aug 18 to Sept 2, 2018. The Pakistan Sports Board with the collaboration of national sports federations should immediately start preparations as the Asian Games are far tough competition as compared to Commonwealth Games.

The Dar Hockey Academy honoured his four players with cash prizes for earning places in the Pakistan U-18 and national hockey teams. Of them, Rana Sohail was given a cash prize of Rs15,000 for representing Pakistan in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. Three juniors who made their place in the national U-18 team, which is going to Bangkok, Thailand, next week, to participate in the qualifying round for the Youth Olympics Games, were given Rs5,000 each. These three players are Hafiz Hammad, Murtaza, Awais and Waqas Butt.

Academy mentor Tauqir Dar said with the induction of three players, his academy had maintained its contribution to the national teams, whether it was national or junior one. He said another three players of his academy were also in Australia playing in their hockey league. They are Asad, Asif Hanif and Wasim Akram.

Mr Dar said besides the cash prizes, 20 hockey sticks and as many pairs of shoes were also distributed to the students of the academy. He said currently around 120 players of different ages were attending the academy and honing their skill free of cost. He said there were no charges for training, accommodation and foods at the academy.

Last week, Model Town Football Club’s veteran team left Lahore for Mauritius to play three matches against the host’s veteran team. The club was invited by the government of Mauritius as part of their 50th independence celebrations. It is the first time that a club is visiting Mauritius, where only football is popular. In return, the Mauritius’ veteran club will also visit Lahore in August. The tour is of 10 days long.

The Sports Board of Punjab set up a training camp for the budding swimmers, ages five years to 16. It will continue till May 15. Around 45 swimmers showed interest in the camp, set up at the newly built International Swimming Pool in Lahore.

It is the first activity at the pool after Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated it some two months back.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2018

Opinion

Editorial

‘Source of terror’
29 Mar, 2024

‘Source of terror’

ALTHOUGH dealing with the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan is a major political, security and strategic...
Chipping in
29 Mar, 2024

Chipping in

FEDERAL infrastructure development schemes are located in the provinces. Most such projects — for instance,...
Toxic emitters
29 Mar, 2024

Toxic emitters

IT is concerning to note that dozens of industries have been violating environmental laws in and around Islamabad....
Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...