Lahore – February 18, 2016: The recent 12^th SAF 2016 Games held at Guawhati, Assam, India in February 2016 saw Pakistan win 12 Gold, 37 Silver and 57 Bronze medals. 44% of these medals were won by players from WAPDA SPORTS BOARD (WSB) and a presentation was given to the Chairman WAPDA who is Patron-in-Chief of WSB. The SAF Games saw WSB players from GEPCO, LESCO, MEPCO, FESCO, NTDC, QESCO, and PESCO, bring laurels representing Pakistan in 18 sports disciplines. The 7 Gold and 19 Silver medals won by these players are 50% of Pakistan’s 12 Gold and 37 Silver medals. Similarly 21 out of the 56 Bronze medals were won by WSB players.  WSB’s 66 men and 41 women players represented 35% of the players and WSB also contributed 26% of the officials required for the games.

The Chairman Wapda expressed satisfaction on the individual and team performances and WSB medal winners will get promotions and cash rewards as per incentive policy to further improve their performance. They will also be honoured by the WAPDA Authority.

WSB provides long term employment as well as coaching, training and practice facilities in its Sports Complex at Lahore, which includes an Olympic size heated pool, and currently the 1870 sports men and women affiliated with WSB, makes it the largest employer of sportsmen hired on sports basis. It has men and women teams and also provides monthly stipends and its facilities to young girls and boys excelling in sports under Wapda Endowment Fund for Sports (WEFS) in schemes like Wapda Athletic Colts etc.   

Similarly WSB has introduced recurring programs for bringing focus on fitness and fielding (FFF) as well as a T-12 School Cricket format which promotes fielding and penalizes bad fielding, recently inaugurated by Chairman PCB and much appreciated by the Honorable Federal Minister Inter Provincial Coordination at its concluding ceremony.

It was also discussed that if other departments also put their full weight and interest towards sports and sportsmen as a social responsibility, it is quite possible to vie for and win the top positions in international competitions. For this purpose WSB intends to request the Federal Sports Ministry and PSB to lay out a fresh plan learning from our recent SAF games experience, to achieve shared understanding on further improving the performance in future international competitions.

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