Prime Minister Imran Khan has approved the launch of Kamyab Jawan Sports Drive, the biggest sports talent hunt program, to revive the sports culture in the country.
The approval came on Thursday when Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Youth Affairs, Usman Dar, called on Prime Minister Imran Khan to discuss the proposal.
According to reports, the premier will officially inaugurate the Kamyan Jawan Sports Drive on 6 December at Jinnah Stadium Islamabad.
In the first phase, the talent hunt would be launched for 12 sports, including football, hockey, and cricket in 25 regions. The games shortlisted for the Sports Drive program are badminton, cricket, boxing, football, handball, judo, hockey, table tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, and squash.
Under the program, High-Performance Centers would be built in districts to train talented youth. Here are details of High-Performance Centers to be built under this program:
- 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 plans to establish these sports academies in higher education institutions across the county. The Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) steering committee has already held a couple of meetings in this regard, which were attended by Vice-Chancellors of major public universities across the country.
The HEC has asked institutions to not only allocate land for the development of these academies, but also develop robust governance and business plans, and create funds for sports activities.
The designated higher education institutions will also allocate professional human resources to run the sports academies.
Further, the National Youth Games will be held annually, and the sub-committees of the varsities would be responsible for all operational matters of the games for the timely and orderly arrangement of all events.
