By Ashrafuddin Pirzada
LANDIKOTAL: The erstwhile Fata sports and culture director Muhammad Nawaz on Thursday said the aim of sports events being arranged in tribal districts is to discourage anti-social elements in the militancy-suffered tribal areas and hunt for talented players.
Nawaz was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Khyber peace games kicked off in Jamrud sports stadium. The games would be continued till October 21 during which around two thousand players in different games would participate in the event
He said it was a great moment for him among other hundreds of tribals youth when he saw the stadium full of spectators.
“We had lost a number of talented sportsmen and culture-related persons in Pakistan who compelled either to abandon sports activities and some left the country to protect their lives in the past years”, said the official.
He said football, archery, basketball, volleyball, cricket, hockey, cycling, table tennis, and martial art matches would be held among the players hailing from district Khyber. He said the matches of different games would be conducted at Jamrud, Landikotal, and Bara sports grounds where they would select top-ranking players for the next level of sports games.
The official said they organize sports events at every level to hunt for talent so that they could give stars to national teams like Shaheen Shah Afridi and Sameen Gul Afridi who were polished at Khyber sports club.
Earlier, deputy commissioner of Khyber Mehmood Aslam Wazir flanked by PTI leader Ameer Muhmmad Khan and sports manager Rahed Gul formally opened the Khyber peace games. players Marched passed in front of officials and waved national and team flags.
