PESHAWAR: More than 3,000 players hailing from different districts will participate in U21 women inter-district games that will start today (Tuesday).

Director General Sports Khalid Khan told a press conference at Peshawar Sports Complex that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan would be the chief guest at the opening ceremony of the mega event.

Director Female Games Rasheeda Ghaznavi, Director Operation Syed Saqlain Shah, Director Development Saleem Raza, AD Games Zakirullah, Peshawar Sports Complex administrator Jaffer Shah and others were also present.

“We will try our best to complete the ongoing schemes of ADP as soon as possible. The government having already increased sports ADP to Rs6.5 billion,” said Khalid Khan.

He said that state-of-the-art facilities would be provided to women players at three different venues including Bamkhel Sports Complex, Swabi; Abdul Wali Khan Sports Complex, Charsadda; and Peshawar Sports Complex.

Mega sports event to start today

The official said that they made arrangements to accommodate the players in different hostels, hostels of the directorate of sports, University of Peshawar and other colleges.

He said that a cricket event would be played at Bamkhel Sports Complex wherein National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser would be the chief guest.

The arrangements, he said, had already been made in Abdul Wali Khan Sports Complex, girls college Dargai, and Peshawar Sports Complex. He said that the players would not feel any difficulty. He added that foolproof security arrangements had been made for the event.

The official said that provincial government allocated funds for establishment of sports infrastructure at union council level. He said that efforts would be made to ensure completion of all ongoing schemes with timely provision of the required funds. He added that Rs6.5 billion had been allocated for about 151 ongoing schemes.

Some of the schemes, he said, included upgradation of sports complexes in Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Haripur and Mardan; laying of hockey turfs in Swat, Abbottabad, Peshawar, Malakand, Buner and Bajaur; construction of squash complex; laying of synthetic courts for tennis; construction of badminton hall; and setting up basketball and volleyball courts.

He said that women games had been delayed in 2020 due to coronavirus. He said that players would compete in athletics, badminton, table tennis, tug-of-war, cricket, netball and volleyball events.

He said the winners would also be awarded scholarships.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2022