ISLAMABAD: The wait for ‘Year of Sports’ (2022) is over as the government is all set to launch ‘Kamyab Jawan Sports Drive’ here on December 6 to revive sports culture for producing national heroes.
Prime Minister Imran Khan will officially inaugurate the Kamyab Jawan Sports Drive at Jinnah Stadium Sports Complex, Islamabad on December 6, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Youth Affairs Muhammad Usman Dar announced while addressing a news conference here on Friday.
Flanked by Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr. Fehmida Mirza, the SAPM said his department had signed an agreement with the IPC ministry to materialize the initiative, aimed at promoting the sports at grass root level.
He said this would be the biggest sports programme in the country’s history that would eventually enable active participation of the youth in the healthy physical activities.
Under its first phase, he said 12 different games for male and 10 for female would be arranged across 25 regions under the talent hunt programme. The age bracket for both would be 11-25 years, he added.
Usman Dar said games for male included football, cricket, hockey, badminton, boxing, handball, judo, squash, table tennis, volleyball, weightlifting and wrestling. For young females, the games would be badminton, cricket, football, hockey, boxing, handball, judo, squash, table tennis, and volleyball, he added.
He said after conclusion of the games, the selected pool of talent would then compete in a national league under the program.
The SAPM said the final pool of talent from league would be given a chance to get trained and developed in world class 12 sports academies and high-performance centers to be built in 12 universities under the program.
12 sports academies would be set up in various varsities including Bahauddin Zakariya University, Punjab, University of the Punjab, Lahore, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, University of Agriculture Faisalabad,
University of Karachi, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University Lyari, University of Peshawar, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Quetta University and Karakoram International University, Gilgit Baltistan for promoting hockey, weightlifting, wrestling, hand ball, football, judo, boxing, squash, volley ball, cricket, athletic games and skiing, respectively, the SAPM noted.