ISLAMABAD, April 4: Chairman 9th SAF Games Lt. Gen. Arif Hasan on Sunday said the government would fulfil its promise of awarding cash prizes to the national players winning medals in the ongoing 9th SAF Games.

He was talking to the media persons after meeting with the gold Medal winners in the ongoing competitions. Mr Hasan said Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had announced to give cash awards to the Pakistani players who would win medals in the SAF Games. "The government would fulfil its commitment".

Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had announced that each gold medal winner would get Rs1 million in prize money. Pakistan has already won 24 gold medals in the SAF Games competitions.

To a question, Mr Hasan said he was satisfied with the performance of the Pakistani players in the games. "I am proud of the players who have shown excellent performance in various events so far," he remarked.

"In the last SAF Games Pakistan had finished fourth on the medals table and currently we are in the 2nd position in term of gold medals." "We can see much more progress of our players in the current SAF Games as compared with their performance in the SAF Games held in Kathmandu," he observed.

The Pakistani players, he said, were now more trained and showing good performance and "I really appreciate it". "In some events, we were expecting gold medals but we did not get them and it is part of the game".

Replying to another question regarding the loss of gold medal in the volleyball event with India, he said he was also disappointed as was the rest of the nation.