Punjab Council for Traditional Sports & Games established for the promotion of non-Olympic traditional sports in the province

LAHORE: Punjab Council for Traditional Sports & Games (PCTSG) has been established under the patronization of Punjab Minister for Sports, Youth Affairs and Tourism Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti and Punjab Minister for Industries, Commerce and Investment Mian Aslam Iqbal for the promotion of non-Olympic traditional sports in the province.

The office-bearers of Punjab Council for Traditional Sports & Games were also elected during the first General Assembly meeting held under the chairmanship of Secretary Youth Affairs, Sports, Archaeology and Tourism Punjab Ehsan Bhutta at Punjab Stadium on Tuesday.

Secretary Youth Affairs, Sports, Archaeology and Tourism Punjab Ehsan Bhutta and Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh were elected President and Senior Vice-President of PCTSG respectively while Director Admin Javed Chohan will be Vice-President and Dr Nauman Saeed will perform as Secretary of the newly-formed Punjab Council for Traditional Sports & Games.

The meeting also was attended by Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh, Director Admin Javed Chohan, Director Sports Hafeez Bhatti, Deputy Director Chand Perveen, Convener/Associate Secretary PCTSG Abu Zafar Sadiq, Madam Tahira Director Sports Punjab University, SP Mahmoodul Hasan Rana, Salman Feroze, Tahir Nazir and other officials.
Addressing the first General Assembly meeting, Secretary Youth Affairs, Sports, Archaeology and Tourism Punjab Ehsan Bhutta said non-Olympic traditional sports like kabaddi, ‘desi kushti’, ‘gulli-danda’, ‘yassu panju’, ‘wanju’, ‘pithu gol garam’, ‘pil goli’, ‘shtapu’ and ‘baander killa’ are quite popular in Punjab province and the prime objective of formation of Punjab Council for Traditional Sports & Games is to promote such games at national and international level.

Secretary Youth Affairs, Sports, Archaeology and Tourism Punjab Ehsan Bhutta said these non-Olympic traditional sports do not require costly infrastructure to play and that’s why a large number of people took part in these games passionately. “The holding of these games will definitely send a positive message to the international community besides promoting a soft image of the country,” he added.

Highlighting the importance of non-Olympic traditional sports, Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh said: “Our Punjab province is identified through these non-Olympic traditional sports in most parts of the world and we are quite determined to promote these games on the platform of Punjab Council for Traditional Sports & Games. These games do provide sufficient opportunity to deprived segments of society to display their talent”.

Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh further informed that PCTSG is going to hold a conference for the revival of traditional sports in December. “PCTSG is also planning to organize Punjab Traditional Games in Feb/March 2021 and for this purpose a committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Secretary PCTSG Dr Nauman Saeed to gather recommendations from all stakeholders,” he added.