Prime Minister Imran Khan launched the country's largest sports initiative Kamyab Jawan Sports Drive by lighting the torch at an impressive ceremony at Jinnah Stadium in Islamabad on Monday.
A large number of youth from all the federating units attended by the ceremony.
Under the Drive, four projects worth four billion rupees have been initiated to keep the youth engaged in extracurricular and sports activities.
Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Imran Khan said this talent hunt program is aimed at preparing the youth for international level competitions. He said centers of excellence will be established to polish the immense talent of Pakistani youth in different fields.
Imran Khan said a new sports policy has also been formulated to rid the old system of mafias.
The Prime Minister pointed out that about seventy percent of the country's population is less than the age of thirty years and it has been decided to spread the network of grounds across the country. Play grounds will be established in each union council.
He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has established three hundred play grounds and in Punjab two hundred and sixty grounds have been established.
Imran Khan said the government is also making efforts to provide better education facilities to the youth. He said we have provided scholarships worth forty-seven billion rupees to the deserving students.
In her remarks, Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination Fehmida Mirza said under the new sports policy, merit will be adhered to so that our talented youth can get the opportunities to improve the country's image at the international level.
Special Assistant on Youth Affairs Usman Dar said under Kamyab Jawan Program, one hundred billion rupees have been allocated by the Prime Minister to empower the youth and help them start their own businesses. He said ten billion rupees were set aside for the skill development and so far two hundred thousand youth have benefited from it.
Usman Dar expressed the confidence that Kamyab Jawan Sports drive would bring to fore the real heroes in different sports.
Kamyab Jawan Sports Drive, in its first phase, consists of 12 games including hockey, cricket, football, handball, wrestling, weightlifting, squash, volleyball, ski, judo, boxing and Athletics.
Under this drive, sports competitions will be held for young people aged 11 to 25, including women across the country.
These competitions will be held at 25 places in all provinces, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Ten million youth will be selected in these competitions for world class professional training.
