Daily Times

CHITRAL: After a long break, the three-day Deputy Commissioner Sports Festival was held in Lower Chitral under the aegis of District Sports Officer and district administration Chitral concluded here on Friday.

The three-day Deputy Commissioner Sports Festival carried 10 volleyball teams, 16 badminton teams, 16 table tennis teams, and 20 players who took part in Table Tennis singles.

Deputy Commissioner Anwar-ul-Haq was the chief guest at the concluding ceremony and distributed prizes among the players. Deputy Commissioner Chitral said that the district administration has taken in the light of the directives issued by Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to provide all possible facilities to the players of Chitral.

He said that the five percent budget has been earmarked for regular sports in the district budget and this time District Sports Officer organized a grand sporting festival wherein the players enthusiastically participated and enjoyed.

District Sports Officer Amir Zaman said that sports are essential for the physical and mental fitness of the youth. He said that a person could not be mentally healthy unless he is physically fit and sports is very important for staying healthy.

“As soon as I took charge, I immediately organized this indoor tournament for which the youth had been waiting for a long time,” he said. “Our aim is to keep the young generation engaged in positive activities like sports and prevent them from cursing drugs and other negative activities,” he added.

The players who took part in the tournament also thanked the District Sports Officer for arranging the games. However, the players also demanded from the provincial government to have a multi-purpose Sports Complex so that the youth of Chitral, both male, and female, could come and exhibit their hidden talent.

The tournament was played in an old building of the warehouse of the Food department, as there is no special stadium for indoor sports. The youngest player in this tournament also came from Swat who is only seven years old and has been playing badminton for the last year.

Wadana used to play badminton when she was six years old. She stressed to other children that they should also actively participate in sports to keep themselves both mentally and physically fit.

In the end, Deputy Commissioner, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Senior Civil Judge, Sports Officer, Population Officer, Land Settlement Officer, High School Principal, SP Investigation Muhammad Khalid, and others were awarded shield on behalf of the District Sports Officer.

Drosh team won the final trophy in volleyball and got a cash prize of Rs. 10,000 while Hindukush Hostel team was declared runners-up who were given 7000 cash prize. The badminton final trophy went to the Zargaranda team who was given a cash prize of Rs 7,000 while the runner-up team was given a prize of Rs 5,000. Irfan Ahmed and Hazrat Hussain got 5000 as a cash prize for taking the runners-up position. Similarly, in table tennis singles, winner Naveed Ahmed was awarded Rs 5,000 with a trophy, and runners-up Mujtaba Shah was awarded a cash prize of Rs 3,000.

The players thanked the sports department and demanded that a proper stadium be constructed for them so that they too could play in it properly and participate in sports at the national and international levels. A large number of spectators were present and witnessed the matches.