PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sports Minister Mehmood Khan distributed Rs 213,000 among needy players and an ailing former national footballer Zahir Shah.
The distribution ceremony was held at Lala Rafique Sports Arena with KP DG Sports Rashida Ghaznavi, Youth Director Aziz Ullah Khan, Pakistan volleyball team coaches Ikram and Khalid Waqar, Pakistan Wrestling Federation coach Abdul Qayyum, BISE Sports Director Manzar Khan, former international athlete Irfan Ullah Marwat, KP Sports Writers Association President Jehanzeb Siddique players and spectators were also present.
Speaking on this occasion, Mehmood Khan said that they have approved financial assistance to only seven players while there are many more players who have shown remarkable performances at Inter-Provincial, National and International levels and will be given cash incentives later on in another ceremony to be organised very soon.
He also directed DG Sports to prepare a complete list of the players (both male and female) who excelled and won medals for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa so that they could be awarded cash incentives.
About 2nd edition of the Under-23 Games, he said the games would be organised in February this year. In the first phase, the games would be organised at Inter-District level and the second phase more than 7000 players would compete in 20 male and 15 female disciplines at inter-regional level.
The construction work on Qayyum Sports Complex, rehabilitation of existing sports facilities would be completed by June this year, Mehmood said.
He also announced an increase in KP Sports writers annual grant from Rs 0.2 million to Rs 0.5 million. The minister said it will be mandatory to organise Under-23 Games on the newly constructed grounds in all 35 Tehsils of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
