LAHORE, With a view to honour WAPDA Kabaddi players of Pakistan World Cup 2020 squad, WAPDA Sports Board (WSB) organised a prize distribution ceremony, here on Monday.
WSB Patron-in-Chief and WAPDA Chairman Lt-Gen Muzammil Hussain (retd), who was the chief guest at the ceremony, presented cash awards – Rs180,000 each – to seven WAPDA Kabaddi players and two officials.
The players included Muhammad Shafique Chishti, Beniameen Malik, Qamar Zaman Butt, Arslan Mahmood (Shani Basra), Musharraf Javed Janjua, Akmal Shahzad Dogar and Khalid Hussain Bhatti, while the officials were Muhammad Razzaq Gill and Muhammad Adeel Akhtar.
Seven players and two officials of WAPDA represented Pakistan in 6th World Kabaddi Cup 2020 in which Pakistan defeated India in the final by 42-40 points to clinch the title.
Of 42 points of Pakistan team, WAPDA players managed to secure 28 points. Muhammad Shafique Chishti was declared Best Raider who alone secured 13 points including the last point that helped Pakistan to win the title.
The prize distribution ceremony could not earlier be held due to Covid-19 pandemic. However, WSB was able to hold the ceremony today on improvement of the Covid-19 situation in the country.
Addressing the ceremony, WAPDA Chairman congratulated the Kabaddi players on their brilliant performance in the World Cup and expressed the hope that they would continue to excel in future as well to bring more laurels to Pakistan. Underlining the significance of sports, the Chairman said that sports alone have the potential to resolve all of our issues by combating terrorism, stabilizing economy and unifying the nation.
WAPDA Member Power Jamil Akhtar, MD (Admin) Khalid Saleem, Advisor Sports Col Asif Mehdi (Retd), Advisor WAPDA Endowment Fund for Sports Shafqat Rana, DG Sports Muhammad Musharraf Khan, Pakistan Kabaddi Federation General Secretary Rana Muhammad Sarwar and Joint Secretary Contingent Rai Abaid Ullah Masood also attended the ceremony.
It is worth mentioning that WAPDA has been playing a phenomenal role for promotion of sports in Pakistan for the last 60 years. WAPDA players have not only been showing their class at the national level but also bringing laurels to Pakistan in international competitions.
At present, WAPDA is winner in 35 disciplines (Men-20, Women-15), and runners-up in 18 games (Men-11, Women-7) in National Championships. WAPDA is the biggest employer of sportspersons in Pakistan, as more than 2200 players and sports officials are associated with various units of WSB across the country, WAPDA has 66 teams – 37 men and 29 women – of different games.
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