PESHAWAR:The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa medal winners of the 34th National Games were still waiting for their cash prizes, President Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Olympic Association Syed Aqil Shah said on Wednesday.
The performance of our players was excellent, but despite the passage of three months, they could not get their cash prizes as promised by the then Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr. Riaz Anwar.
President Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Olympic Association Syed Aqil Shah said that the players who won medals for the province in the 34th National Games held in Quetta were not awarded the prize money despite the passage of three months.
Provincial Olympic Association President Syed Aqil Shah said that the players of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had given outstanding performances by winning 49 medals with four gold medals, two in sailing and one each in Badminton, Judo, six silver medals, with four silver medals in sailing and one silver medal each in Judo and Wushu and 39 bronze medals including 10 in Taekwondo, seven in Wushu, four each in Judo and Karate, two each in sailing, Tennis, wrestling and one each in Badminton, bodybuilding, boxing, cycling, shooting, squash, archery and weightlifting.
It was an excellent performance, Aqil Shah said. This is the first time that our athletes have given a good performance and won dozens of medals. It is commendable in terms of quality, but despite this, prize money announced by the former sports minister for the National Games medal winners, no one is there to appreciate the athletes. He said even in Balochistan, AJK, Islamabad, Sindh and Punjab players were given cash prizes for winning medals but the players of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been deprived of such encouragement.
He said, “We had a squad of 437 and we beat 600 players from Balochistan and 500 players from Punjab, which is quite encouraging on the part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa players,” Aqil Shah said.
Two young sisters from Sindh won gold and silver medals for their province and not only increased the good name of their province but also lowered the position of our province by a notch. Compared to other provinces, our performance was very good, but the players of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan had already received the prize money two months ago, while our athletes were still deprived, they have demanded the provincial government to award cash prizes to the players.
“The players’ cash prizes should be given as soon as possible so that the players can actively participate in the upcoming national and inter-provincial games,” Aqil Shah concluded.