PESHAWAR: A two-day winter youth sports festival stared at Hayatabad Sports Complex here on Saturday.

The event was being organised jointly by the Directorate of Youth Affairs, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the Hayatabad Sports Complex (HSC) administration.

HSC administrator Shah Faisal and deputy director youth affairs Atifa Khan formally inaugurated the festival.

According to the organisers, a total of 60 female and 110 male players are taking part in badminton, cricket, taekwondo, gymnastics and karate competitions.

The sports festival will be followed by fireworks and a musical show where prominent artists, including Akbar Ali Khan, Salma Naz, Uzair Sherpao, Humayun Khan, Sehrish Khan, Zafar Farooq and Karan Khan, will perform.

Being the last event of the year 2022 the festival has been organised in a befitting manner, said Mr Faisal while talking to mediapersons.

HSC caretaker Yasir Islam, coaches Abdul Shakoor (football), Shakeel Ahmed (squash), Naveed Bibi (taekwondo) and Shahzad (gymnastics) were also present at the event.

Mr Faisal said that Hayatabad Sports Complex was one of the most modern stadiums in the province, which had been equipped with all necessary facilities.

He said that recently Chief Minister Mahmood Khan also inaugurated the international level cricket stadium.

He said that sports activities would be organised in the sports complex with more enthusiasm in the coming days.

Published in Dawn, january 1st, 2023