To restore Pakistan’s sports culture, Prime Minister Imran Khan has inaugurated the country’s largest sports initiative, ‘Kamyab Jawan Sports Drive’.
For the first time in Pakistan’s history, the Kamyab Jawan Program and the Higher Education Commission has collaborated on four new initiatives costing 4 billion rupees to engage youth in recreational and sporting activities. One of these megaprojects will be the Kamyab Jawan Sports Drive.
The approval came when Usman Dar, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Youth Affairs, met with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday.
Read more: 100,000 youths provided jobs and Rs 35 billion distributed under Kamyab Jawan in two years
During the first phase, the project will give Pakistan’s talented youths the opportunity to be trained for international competition in 12 sports, comprising hockey, cricket, football, handball, wrestling, weightlifting, squash, volleyball, skiing, judo, boxing, and athletics.
The sports competitions will be accessible to youths aged 11 to 25.
The sporting events will take place across the country, including in Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and one million will be moving forward through a selection process.
As per media reports, the High-Performance Centers would be created in districts to train talented youngsters under the scheme. The following are the details of the High-Performance Centers that will be created as part of this Kamyab Jawan Sports programme:
- Hockey (Multan)
- Weightlifting & Wrestling (Lahore)
- Handball (Faisalabad)
- Football & HPC (Karachi)
- Judo (Tandojam)
- Boxing (Liyari)
- Cricket (Islamabad)
- Squash (Peshawar)
- Volleyball (Mardan)
- Athletics (Quetta)
- Skiing (GB)
The government intends to develop these sports academies in all of the county’s higher education institutions under the Kamyab Jawan Sports initiative. The working group of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has already had a handful of meetings in this respect, with Vice-Chancellors of major public universities from throughout the country.
The HEC has asked that universities not only set aside land for the formation of these academies, but also build solid governance and business plans, as well as allocate cash for sports activities.
The sports academies will be run by professional human resources from the authorized higher education institutions.
Furthermore, the National Youth Games will be organized annually, and the varsities’ sub-committees will be in charge of all technical activities of the games, including the timely and orderly organization of all activities.
