ISLAMABAD   -    A month-long sports festival, being hosted by Private Schools Network (PSN) for Capital’s low-fee schools got under­way with a colourful opening ceremony at Margalla Town Islamabad’s Multi-purpose Sports Ground on Wednes­day.

Teachers, students and their parents in large num­bers attended the ceremo­ny. 

A traditional parade, in­volving students of partici­pating schools was the hall­mark of the ceremony.

Students from Capital’s several private schools got ample opportunities to showcase their sporting skills and potential.

Hundreds of students took part in the competi­tions of different disciplines on the opening day of the first phase of the 14th edi­tion of the annual sports ex­travaganza.

Students featured in the events - 100m race, 200m race, frog race, sack race, tug of war, rope skipping and several other sports.

Both boys and girls par­ticipated in all the events barring cricket, which was open for boys only. The fix­tures are taking place on league-cum-knockout basis.

Parents of the students and their teachers cheered for their children and en­couraged them every step of the way to come out on top.

Acting Chief Commission­er Pakistan Boy Scouts As­sociation, Shoaib Ahmad Dahri was the chief guest at the opening ceremony. He commendef PSN for ar­ranging sports galla for the students on a regular basis. “The organizers (PSN) are doing great work by hold­ing such a coveted event for the students every year,” he remarked.

He asked the students to balance their time and improve their work eth­ics by giving the consider­ate amount of time to their studies besides enjoying sports. 

President PSN Dr. Mu­hammad Afzal Babar on the occasion said that in the digital age it was imperative to engage students in the healthy activities. 

“It is our mission to hunt talent for different sport disciplines right from nurs­ery class to matric level,” he added.