LAHORE - The Punjab Youth Festival 2014 is gaining popularity with each passing day as a record participation of 182,000 players was witnessed in various districts of the province on the fifth day of UC level competitions and 47,000 finished the day as winners.
In 34 Union Councils of Ravi Town, 2223 players participated in various events and 152 were victorious. Imran Akram won the athletics competition while Abid Ali finished second. In badminton, Abu Bakar won the event while Usman got second position. Zain XI won the cricket event. In 47 UCs of Samanabad Town, 6473 players featured in different competitions out of which 283 emerged the winners.
In 23 UCs of Iqbal Town, 727 took part where 35 were the winners. 994 participated in various events held in 32 UCs of Nishtar Town out of them 89 were the title grabbers. At Wahga Town, 247 players from 9 UCs featured in different competitions and among them 50 clinched the victory. Shalimar Town saw participation of 5862 athletes from 42 UCs in PYF events where 196 remained successful. In 46 UCs of Data Ganj Bakhsh Town, 237 players won different events out of 6230.
There was massive participation in Aziz Bhatti Town where 3913 athletes from 83 UCs locked horns in PYF events and among them, 397 finished successful. Safdar Ali won the athletics event while Akmal remained runner-up. Shafqat XI won the cricket tape ball event against Ameen XI.Divisional Sports Council Lahore convener MPA Mian Naseer, MPA Saiful Malook Khokhar and MPA Kanwal Nauman were the guests of honours at the events. Speaking on the occasion, Mian Naseer said: “The Punjab Youth Festival has been providing new opportunities to youngsters who will prove to be an asset for the country.” In different UCs of Bhakkar, Khoshab, Sargodha and Mianwali Districts of Sargodha Division, 13442 players participated in which 3834 were successful. In UCs of Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Chiniot Districts of Faisalabad, out of 10933 players, 3483 were the winners. In UCs of Okara, Sahiwal and Pakpattan Districts of Sahiwal Division, 13289 featured in various events and among them 2456 returned home joyous.
In UCs of Vehari, Lodhran, Multan and Khanewal Districts of Multan Division, out of 13266 participants, 2823 were title winners. Total 7270 players of Sialkot, Hafizabad and Mandi Bahauddin Districts of Gujaranwala Division locked horns in different events where 1746 were declared winners.
Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalnagar and Bahawalpur Districts of Bahawalpur Division saw participations of 12384 players and among them, 5378 had smiles on their faces. In UCs of Rajanpur, Layyah, DG Khan and Muzaffargarh Districts of DG Khan Division, out of 16658 athletes, 2384 notched up the titles.