ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Inter-provincial Coordination (IPC) on Monday awarded Pakistan’s 17 taekwondo athletes who won medals at the 2019 South Asian Games staged in Nepal.

In view of the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic situation in the country, the IPC Ministry and the Pakistan Sports Board are giving awards to the medal winners of SAG in three sessions.

During the second chapter of this exercise, cheques were distributed among the medal winners of the taekwondo team on Monday. The taekwondo team won three gold, six silver and eight bronze medals. In line with the approved cash award policy, gold medallists were given Rs1 million each, each silver medallist received Rs500,000 while every bronze medallist earned a cheque of Rs250,000.

Similarly, woman squash player Muqaddas Ashraf who clinched silver medal also received a cheque of Rs500,000.

On the directions of IPC Minister and PSB president Dr Fehmida Mirza, the cheques of the remaining squash players — Madina Zafar, Faiza Zafar and Amna Fayyaz — were given to the secretary of the Pakistan Squash Federation.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Fehmida congratulated the country’s squash and taekwondo federations and lauded their players for bringing the laurels to the country. “Our taekwondo players’ performance at the 2019 South Asian Games remained outstanding, wherein they won a total of 17 medals compared to their tally of seven medals they bagged in 2016,” the IPC minister underlined.

The medal-winning sportspersons thanked the federal government and Dr. Fehmida for inviting them to receive the cash awards at this critical time when all sports events have been suspended due to Covid-19.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2020