‘Mechanism being devised to award stipends to top athletes’

LAHORE:Youth Affairs Department is devising a mechanism to award monthly stipends to top performing athletes and formation of Punjab teams and in this regard DG Youth Affairs Punjab Dr Asif Tufail presided over an important meeting at National Hockey Stadium on Monday.

Director Youth Affairs Rana Nadeem Anjum, Deputy Director Atta ur Rehman, Assistant Director Waseem Asghar and other officials attended the key meeting in person while all Divisional Sports Officers of the province participated through video link. Addressing the meeting, Dr Asif Tufail said that several talented players have emerged from Rising Punjab Games 2024. “We are devising a mechanism to award scholarships to the high performing players from March this year,” he added.

He said that the top performing male and female athletes of Inter-Division sports competitions will be given Rs 70,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 30,000 per month in three categories Diamond, Gold and Silver for one year. “Definitely, these stipends will play a key role in creating great inspiration among the rest of the young athletes to improve their game skills”.

Dr Asif Tufail informed that the training camps for top athletes will also be set up soon to polish their sports skills and prepare them for bigger national sports events including 35th National Games. “The Under-16 Talent Hunt Programme and Annual Sports Calendar have great significance in the development of sports culture across the province”.

He directed all the conveners of six sports disciplines of Rising Punjab Games selection committee to give their complete output regarding selection and categorization of players for scholarships and formulation of Punjab teams. “The selection of athletes for scholarships and formulation of Punjab teams must be purely on the basis of their performance in the Inter-Division Rising Punjab Games sports events”.