PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inter-Colleges Boys and Girls Games got underway here at the Hayatabad Sports Complex on Monday.

Secretary sports Captain retired Mushtaq Ahmad inaugurated the games during a colourful ceremony. A total of 704 athletes, including 300 girls, are taking part in football, cricket and volleyball (boys) and badminton, volleyball and cricket (girls).

The players had qualified for the provincial level games after excelling in the first phase played in eight different zones, including Malakand, Swat, Mardan, Bannu, Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan, Hazara and Peshawar.

The games will be played at different venues.

Speaking at the event, Mushtaq Ahmed said a strong body was essential for a healthy and strong mind, but regretted that social media use and online games kept the youth away from the sports fields.

He said that the motto of the sports directorate was to attract the youth towards healthy activities and bring new talent to the fore. “It is commendable that there is no lack of talent in the province but such talent needs to be polished,” he added.

The secretary sports said that sports was the only thing that could make a country and nation famous in the world. He said there were not so many facilities in the past and children were not encouraged in sports, but now sports had become an industry and the government was investing a lot in it. He said soon a Memorandum of Understanding would be signed with the Pakistan Cricket Board to establish a modern cricket academy in the province.

On the occasion, director general sports Khalid Khan said more than 14,500 players from 290 colleges participated in the first phase of these games, and the winning team of each zone was representing their region in the provincial competitions.

At the end of the ceremony, famous Pashto singer Bakhtiar Khattak also performed and received thundering applause from the players.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2022