TAXILA: Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan has said the provincial government is committed to enhancing football and other sports activities.

He said sports organisers and sportsmen need to employ sports as a tool for the promotion of national integration and harmony by arranging club level, inter-district, inter-regional and inter-provincial sports events.

He expressed these views while addressing as chief guest the closing ceremony of Governor Punjab Night Football Tournament held in Fatehjang on Monday. He added that taking a major step for the promotion of sports, Punjab has announced to open 16 free sports academies of boxing, athletics, swimming, table tennis, badminton, football, hockey, archery, wushu, karate, jujitsu, taekwondo, tennis, squash, cricket and laser run across the province.

He said that all the sports academies will be free for players. “It is for the first time in the country’s history that 16 sports academies are being opened for free for male and female athletes across the province.”

He said that these sports academies will be established in all divisions and districts of the province.

“These academies will play a major role in identifying highly talented male and female athletes from grassroots level”. The governor said that a decision had been taken to establish a University of Sports Sciences in Punjab and its initial courses have been launched at Institute of Sports Sciences Punjab (ISSP).

Mr Saleem said that in a bid to promote sports activities in schools across Punjab, 1,000 playfields would be developed in schools across the province. He added that to promote football at grassroots level, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) had also launched ‘Football for Schools’ programme, by distributing more than 150,000 footballs to schools across the country. He said that the Punjab government is actively working to revive sports culture and provide modern facilities to young athletes, enabling them to showcase their talent at national and international levels. The governor said sports played a vital role in engaging youth in healthy activities and steering them away from negative social influences such as drugs.

Earlier, Pakistan Navy secured the title of the first Governor Punjab Night Football Tournament held in Fatehjang sports stadium.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2026