A good number (200) of junior badminton players, both boys and girls, from all the provinces and Islamabad, besides of Karachi Port Trust (KPT), gathered in Lahore this week and participated in the three-day national junior badminton championship.

The players from Punjab showed excellent performance as its both boys and girls teams won different titles in the under-19 and under-17 events. The only title Punjab could not win out of the seven was of boys under-15 event, which was clinched by Ahmed Faisal of Sindh.

Three of the winners -- Manaal Tariq (girls under-19), Shahmir Iftikhar (boys under-19) and Amal Munaib (girls under-17) belong to Lahore. Raja Zulqarnain Haider, who won boys under-17 title came from Hafizabad district with his impressive skill and technique.

In the past, Hafizabad has been producing champions and the Pakistan Badminton Federation should be thankful to its coach Hamid Raza, who despite having limited resources is doing his job well. Zulqarnain’s win is more appreciable as he beat Daniyal Ali in the final who trained in professional atmosphere of Karachi Port Trust Association that was also giving him a stipend. The KPT has set up its own academy and picks up promising players from all over the country. A Lahorite, Shamir Iftikhar also beat KPT’s Zohaib Khan in the under-19 final.

Manal Tariq and Shamir also won the mixed doubles in under-19 event. Rohan Haseeb and Rohail Haseeb of Punjab won the boys’ doubles. Iqra Tahir and Hadia Ashfaq won the girls’ doubles.

What these winners need to make their country proud in international events is better coaching and a professional training atmosphere, which is the responsibility of the federation as well as the government institutions.

The Sports Board Punjab (SBP) organised no less than 11 competitions in different sports to celebrate the Independence Day.

Though the city district government of Lahore also held a good number of sports events in this connection, its core job of the SBP to train and produce good athletes who could compete both at the national and international levels.

The SBP, undoubtedly, has a lot of resources, which if put to right use could do wonders. Recently the board has got Rs300 million under the Sports Endowment Fund. The funds could benefit the athletes in a big way spent on hiring better coaches and trainers from abroad in different disciplines to hone local talent.

Experts suggest that a five-year plan should be chalked out under which foreign coaches and other staff should be hired to train athletes from an early age (12 to 20 years), besides providing them latest facilities of international level.

In the past, SBP had been paying monthly stipend to the players winning inter-provincial under-16 championships. But sadly the stipend had been suspended for the last five years without any cogent reason.

The rainy season in Lahore poses a serious threat to sports activities, especially the outdoor ones.

Because of rains, various matches of the inter-district under-19 cricket championship, an event organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), could not be completed last week.

As rains are expected in August in Lahore, holding such sports events at this time of the season in the city is nothing but wastage of both money and time.

The Punjab Lawn Tennis Association will organise a PSB Pre-IF Level One-Green Badge Coaching Course in Lahore next week with collaboration of the Pakistan Tennis Federation.

Around 20 coaches from Punjab and five from other provinces are invited to this course. A similar course has also been organised in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2016