LAHORE: Director General (DG) Sports Board Punjab (SBP) Muhammad Tariq Qureshi on Tuesday distributed cash prizes among medal winning athletes of Pakistan pentathlon team that demonstrated glorious performance and clinched eight medals in recently-held International Pentathlon Championships in Egypt and Kirghizstan.
The DG SBP was the chief guest at the ceremony, held here at National Hockey Stadium under the auspices of Pakistan Modern Pentathlon Federation here. Secretary Pakistan Modern Pentathlon Federation (PMPF) Zahoor Ahmed and other officials were also present.
Seven countries participated in the International Islamic Pentathlon Championship in Egypt where Pakistan athletes captured three silver and two bronze medals. After this event, national pentathlon team featured in 6-Nation International Pentathlon Championship in Kirghizstan in which national players bagged one gold, one silver and one bronze medal.
Mohammad Munir Ahmed was given a cash prize of Rs 15,000 for winning gold medal while three athletes Sharjeel Zafar, Asad Ali and Naeem Ahmed Zafar were given cash prizes of Rs 10,000 each for winning silver medals while Salman Ahmed, M Talha, Mohsin Razzaq and Kamran Babar got Rs 8,000 each for winning bronze medals in Pentathlon Championships.
Five officials of the national pentathlon team – Syed Mohammad Ali Shah, Syed Mubasher Iqbal Shah, Mehr Mohammad Saqlain, Abdul Hannan and Tariq Ahmed Rashid were given Rs 10,000 each for their key role in medal-winning performance of national pentathlon team.
The other participating players – Sarfraz Ahmed, Zeeshan Zafar, Rana Asrar Ahmed, Zeeshan Ahmed, Sadeed Ahmed, Rana Ahsan Kamal, Rana Waqas Ahmed, Farhan Butt, Ali Hamza, Shahzad Anwer, Hashir Ahmed and Hassan Noman Ghani – were also given Rs 5,000 each.
Addressing the ceremony, DG, SBP congratulated the Pakistan pentathlon team on winning eight medals in two International Pentathlon Championships. “National team demonstrated wonderful performance in all departments of the game. We are fully encouraging and supporting the athletes who are winning medals for the country in any international sports discipline,” he added.
He said pentathlon is a new game and it is getting rapid acceptance among the young generation of the province. “The medal winning performance of the national team will definitely prove to be a great inspiration for our talented youth,” he added.
