SAHIWAL: The 77th annual two-day sports gala kicked off at the Government Postgraduate College on Wednesday.

Olympian Qamar Zaman, a former national hockey team coach, took oath from 500 athletes at Oval Ground.

Speaking on the occasion, Qamar Zaman said no activity for the youth was as necessary as participation in sports.

“Sports is the most valuable human activity and our youth must engage themselves in this discipline,” he said. Reminiscing the old days, he said he used to practice and play in the college hockey ground when he was a student here.

“I was college hockey team goalkeeper for three years,” he told his audience.

He said that 1970 to 1982 was a golden era of hockey. It was a time when Pakistan secured maximum gold medals in hockey and the team performance declined in the 1990’s.

He said there was a time when the biggest hockey event occurred in Sahiwal because this region including Pakpattan, Okara and Vehari had produced world class hockey players who represented Pakistan in prestigious international tournaments.

It’s unfortunate, he said, that Sahiwal did not have a single AstroTurf. He urged the Pakistan Sports Board and the Pakistan Hockey Federation to lay out a turf for hockey players in the Sahiwal district.

The sportsman while speaking to Dawn demanded that there should be a hockey premier league just like the Pakistan Super League in cricket. “Hockey is our national game and it needs financial assistance from the government and corporate sector,” he said.

Earlier in the morning college athletes participated in different sporting events including 100 meter hurdles race, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1,500 and 5,000 meter race, javelin throw, 10x4 Dock Race, triple jump, 400 meter hurdle race, high jump, long jump, hammer throw, cycle race and gymnastics.

Light rain interrupted one or two race events but students were committed to contest in many events.

Principal Mumtaz Ahmed said it’s the first time the college girl students were participating in sports.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2020