Peshawar seize overall trophy at U23 Games

PESHAWAR: Peshawar won the overall trophy of the 3rd edition of Khyber Pakht-unkhwa Inter-Region Under-23 Games for the record third time by securing 31 gold medals here Tuesday.

Peshawar claimed 21 golds out of 26 in the men’s competitions while 10 medals were won by females out of 17 sports disciplines. The competitions were held at the Peshawar and Hayatabad sports complexes, University of Peshawar, BISE Peshawar and BISE Charsadda, simultaneously.

Mardan clinched overall second position with three golds in women events and two in male competitions, followed by Swat with two golds in female and one in male games.Around 3,500 athletes from Peshawar, Mardan, Swat, Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Hazara regions participated in the three-day event.

The men’s competitions included football, hockey, basketball, volleyball, squash, badminton, table tennis, tennis, athletics, gymnastics, judo, karate, wrestling, kabaddi, tug-of-war, taekwondo, cycling, handball, snooker, wushu, boxing, archery, mui-thai, weightlifting and full-contact karate, while women competed in cricket, hockey, basketball, volleyball, netball, squash, badminton, table tennis, athletics, baseball, judo, taekwondo, handball and wushu.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Directorate of Sports DG Junaid Khan said the 11,500 athletes were shortlisted after the trials which involved around 35,000 male and female youth.The provincial government had allocated a total of Rs183 million for the Games out of which Rs60 million was sanctioned for provision of sports gear.The winners of the final round were given Rs50,000 cash while runners-up bagged Rs30,000. The winners would also be awarded sports scholarships and other awards.