LAHORE - Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh has said that Sports Board Punjab (SBP) is striving hard for the promotion of all games at grassroots level in the province.
“The purpose of the 2-month Summer Tennis Camp is to find and produce young talented players. We are also launching a tennis talent hunt programme to unearth fresh potential players,” Aulakh expressed these views while talking to media during the inaugural ceremony of the camp here at the Bagh-e-Jinnah Lawn Tennis Academy. Director Sports Hafeez Bhatti, Assistant Director Raeesur Rehman, former Davis Cupper and PLTA Secretary Rashid Malik (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz) and a large number of young tennis players and enthusiasts were also present there.
The DG SBP said a huge amount of Rs 6 billion has been allocated for sports budget during the current fiscal year. “A network of sports infrastructure will be established across the province with this amount. We are planning to trace talented players from villages and suburban areas of the province. “Preparing a nursery of young talented players is the actual mandate of the Sports Board Punjab and for this purpose, a useful programme ‘Sports Calendar’ has been devised,” he added.
Aulakh said the players of 5 to 13 years of age are participating in the camp being organized under the supervision of renowned tennis coach Rashid Malik. He directed the camp management to ensure the participation of young tennis players. “There should be weekly assessment of participating players to ascertain their knowledge about the game.”
He further informed that five more tennis courts are being constructed in a state of the art tennis stadium in Nishtar Park Sports Complex. “We have launched a 2-month swimming camp in Punjab International Swimming Complex for young swimmers of Under-6 to Under-18 age group.”
Speaking on the occasion, Rashid Malik said: “I am thankful to Sports Board Punjab Director General Adnan Arshad Aulakh for conducting this 2-month camp, which will prove very fruitful as it will help us find fresh talent, who will be further trained and groomed under the banner of PLTA and SBP.”
Malik also urged Punjab Sports Minister Rai Taimoor Bhatti and DG SBP to establish four more international-standard synthetics courts at Bagh-e-Jinnah grass courts as it will help the PLTA conduct international events at the venue.
It is worth mentioning here that the PLTA is in talk with the PTF and ITF for getting the rights of holding junior international events in Lahore and if the PLTA succeeded in enhancing the number of synthetic courts at Bagh-e-Jinnah, it will help a lot in this cause.