After a week of intense competitions the District Level of the Punjab Youth Festival 2012 came to an end having the winners being shortlisted for even more tough encounters in the Divisional Level.
The District Level, which stands fourth in the flow chart of the Festival, had involved all the 36 districts of the province in 147 sporting and non-sporting events in 14 sectors of the society. However, the fifth level of the Festival will now start from October 8 at the Divisional Level in which all the nine divisions will compete in different events.
On the final day of the fourth phase passionate sports competitions were seen among 30,929 participants and 9758 won their matches and contests in the general category while in the education sector around 19071 students took part in the events and 6778 had the ultimate smile.
In Lahore division 637 participated in 22 events and 253 earned the trophy and a place to compete for their district in the divisional level.
In Lahore alone 167 players took part in Billiard, Hockey, cricket hardball, Kabaddi and weightlifting event and on the final day and 64 got the title.
In bodybuilding final, 65 kgs, Mohammed Asif of Data Ganj Bax Town bagged first position, Mohammed Ikram of Shalimar Town was second. In 75 kgs, Ravi Town’s Asad Ashfaq was declared first and Mustafa Shafiq of Samanabad Town attained second position. In 75-plus kgs, Iqbal Town ‘s Yawar Ali achieved first position while Gulberg Town’s Jamshed Javed managed second position.
Likewise, 1321 students of different colleges displayed their skills in 23 sports events and 213 came out shining.
Meanwhile the other parts of the province also had avid involvement of talented players in the events. In Rawalpindi 712 took part in 14 sports and 7 non-sporting events including dog race, horse race, bull race, qirat, milli naghme and naat khani and luck favoured 230 of them. In all 70 won from among 320 at Sargodha, 202 were the lucky ones when 537 came head to head in 24 team and individual events at Gujranwala.
At Faisalabad there were 265 up for the top honour but 90 got the prize, Sahiwal got 240 involved in the events and 118 winners, Multan saw 491 competitors but 176 left the other behind while Bahawalpur got 240 participants and 76 winners and Dera Ghazi Khan’s three districts witnessed 1338 contestants with 195 having won in their competitions.
In the education sector sports, there were 16 competitions among 317 players and 108 winners, Sargodha had 487 players and 118 winners, Gujranwala got 1094 student competitors and 372 winners. Likewise similar activity continued at Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan.
In the general category event conducted by Tourism Development Departments, a total of 12 competitions were held in the major cities of the province in which Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan and Lahore were involved. And a total number of 378 competitors showed their skills in painting of the nature and photography and 206 got the awards while the others were given participation certificates.
Auqaf department conducted qirat competitions and a total of 335 participated in 24 venues and 72 were declared winners. The school sector organized painting and handicraft competitions and 11,329 were the participants in all the 36 districts while livestock and dairy department held competitions of donkey cart race, dog race, pet competition, tippling/pigeon flying, bull cart race and horse dancing and 380 displayed their skills but 77 were found impressive in their abilities. In the social welfare department conducted events of cooking and dress designing 916 gave their expertise but 41 were found to be the best.