The Divisional Level of the Punjab Youth Festival 2012 on Thursday saw some colourful activity with Lahore taking honours in several of the events.
Lahore girl’s players won the cricket match to add flavour to the festival while the city players also won in taekwondo, tug of war, baseball and table tennis.
In Taekwondo’s 55 kgs, Adil Mustafa of Lahore beat Patras of Kashur, who took the second place. In 65 kgs weight class, Lahore’s Asif Ali achieved first position while Kasur’s Mohammed Khalid was second. In 65-plus kgs, Lahore’s Shahan Arif baggoed first position whereas Kasur’s Asif Masih was second.
In tug of war, Lahore beat Sheikhupura 2-0 when the finalists Lahore defeated Nankana Sahib in the first semi-final and Sheikhupura moved past Kasur in the second semi-final.
In baseball final, Lahore took the title beating the rivals while in table tennis final, Lahore bagged first after beating Kasur second positions.
In basketball, Sheikhupura won the title beating Lahore in the final while Lahore won the hockey match against Nankana Sahib.
In female cricket, Lahore beat Nankana Sahib by 99 runs at the Kinnaird College ground.
In all 240 players took part in 10 events of bodybuilding, chess, cricket, hockey, Kabaddi, mat wrestling, mud wrestling, karate, boxing and powerlifting during the last two days and 75 were declared winners.
In the non-sporting events like Science modeling, four teams took part and displayed their models at University of Veterinary and Health Sciences and was participated by Ahsan Ishfaq and Mohammad Qasim of Punjab College Sheikhupura, Hasan Raza and Ali Raza of Punjab College, Waheed Akbar and Abdullah Shakeel of Government College Township and Ameer Hamza and Mudassar Hussain of Government Degree College Phool Nagar Kasur.
Four Indian Punjab teams to participate in festival
Indian Punjab Sports Secretary Param Jeet Singh has on Thursday confirmed the participation of four Indian Punjab teams in the Punjab International Sports Festival 2012 to be held in November. Addressing a press conference here at the Conference Hall of the Sports Board Punjab, Param said that Deputy Chief Minister Indian Punjab Sardar Sukbir Singh Badal will be leading the Indian delegation of 55 sports officials and the business community. Deputy Speaker Punjab Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan, who is the chief organizer of the Punjab Youth Festival, Director General Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Usman Anwar and Indian Punjab Director Sports Shiv Dular Dhillon were also present on the occasion. Param informed that the 55-member sports contingent of Punjab will include the players of hockey, mat wrestling, kabaddi and tug of war. He further said that the visit of their players and business community to Lahore will develop harmony and open up new door of peace and cordial relations. “The exchange of players and business people is the effort of the chief ministers of both the countries who frequently talk on different issues. “The first step of talks was initiated between the two CMs at Attari and it was then the Deputy Chief Minister was asked to visit Lahore for and further develop the relations,” he said. Param further added that he has seen festival at federal level and a state holding such an activity and on such a big scale is a thing of great praise and also expressed his hope next time the Pakistan teams will give Indian Punjab a chance to host them. “It is necessary for both the Punjabs to have frequent sports exchanges for the revival of our traditional games. We organized World Kabaddi and it cannot be successful without the participation of Pakistan team,” he added. He further said that they have already extended invitation to Pakistan for World Kabaddi Tournament to be held in December. In his views, Rana Mashhood said that the Punjab Youth Festival was the vision of Punjab Chief Minister Mian Mohammad Shahbaz Sharif who wanted the revival of sports in the province. “It was the hardwork of Sports Board Punjab team and the volunteers which is now paying off,” he added. Rana Mashhood on behalf of Mian Shahbaz assured full security to the Indian Punjab teams. “The Punjab Youth Festival is the principal clause of the Punjab Youth Policy under which the CM wanted to engage the youth in different healthy activities,” he maintained.