PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has awarded cash prizes to two promising squash players of the province -- Hamza Niaz and Abbas Zeb -- for winning gold medals in the Asian Junior Squash Championship played at Chennai, India, last month.

Each player was given cash prize of Rs100, 000 by director general sports Junaid Khan here on Tuesday for winning Asian Junior gold medal in under-15 and under-17 categories.

On the occasion, the sports DG said the junior players were doing well and hopefully they would succeed in winning back the lost glory of squash for Pakistan, which ruled the world in the game for 37 long years. Junaid Khan said hard work and honesty with the game were fundamental to win back more laurels for Pakistan.

“We are feeling very proud that all the seven world champions are hailing from a small village of Nawa Kallay situated a distance of only 1,000 metres from the Qayyum Sports Complex,” the DG sports added.

The official also appreciated the president, senior vice-president and coaches of Pakistan Squash Federation for working hard in providing due opportunities of international exposure to the players at both junior and senior levels.

He also appreciated the coaches of the sports directorate for preparing the players in a professional way despite a single court available in the Qayyum Sports Complex.

He said work on construction of a modern squash complex in the vicinity of Peshawar Sports Complex continued alongside construction of a players’ hostel and other facilities.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018