By Abdul Jabbar Faisal
ISLAMABAD (April 27, 2020):-Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) distributed the cash awards, in three different sessions, to the medal winners of 13th South Asian Games, which were held on 1-10 December, 2019 in Nepal.
According to Director Media PSB, Mohammad Azam Dar, during the second phase, prizes were distributed among the medal winners of Taekwondo team that had grabbed 3 gold, 6 silver and 8 bronze medals. According to cash award policy, gold medalists were given Rs.1.000 million each, silver medalists got Rs.500, 000 while bronze medalists received pocketed Rs.250, 000 each. Muqadas Ashraf, a squash players and winner of silver medal also received Rs.500, 000.
On the direction of Federal Minister for IPC Dr. Fehmida Mirza, who is also president PSB, the remaining cheques of rest of the squash players namely Madina Zafar, Faiza Zafar and Amna Fayyaz were handed over to Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF). Col. (R) Waseem Ahmed President Pakistan Taekwondo Federation and Wing Commander Tahir Sultan Secretary General Pakistan Squash Federation were also present on this eve.
Dr. Fehmida Mirza congratulated to national players and official of respective federation and said that performance of Taekwondo players remained outstanding in SA Games 2019, wherein, players won total 17 medals as compare to its 2016 chapter with 7 medals in total. She urged that despite limited resources federal government was taking all possible measures to promote sports in the country.
While speaking on the occasion, the national athletes thanked to federal government and especially Dr. Fehmida Mirza Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC), who is also president PSB, for inviting to receive the prize money at this critical time of need when all the sports events have been suspended due to Covid-19 and playgrounds are presenting a deserted picture. They also showed their gratitude for making all travelling and logistic arrangements for SA Games, taking care of the players during execution phase of the games and above all rewarding the players financially by the federal government.
The President, Pakistan Taekwondo Federation Col (Retd) Wasim Ahmed highlighted the performance of each player and thanked the Federal Minister Dr. Fehmida Mirza for timely rewarding the players, arranging camps by PSB for SA Games and requested for future support to produce better results. He added that next edition of SA Games would be hosted by Pakistan. “National players will have to concentrate on their skill full training using latest equipments and technologies, participation and take home ground advantage aiming to win more medals to improve the overall medal tally, “he siad.
In addition to the federal government support, the President PTF also requested the provinces to help the provincial sports associations to dig out talent from grass root level and train the sportspersons on modern and scientific lines. He also informed that PTF is holding a video link championship owing to Covid-19 and it will start from mid May, 2020 under the guidance of Korean Coach. While responding to the President PTF, the President PSB assured that PSB will make every effort to support the concerned National Sports Federations so that their athletes may get training under this critical situation.
