Women Talent Hunt under HRCP’s Women Empowerment Program in Sept this year

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Women’s Talent Hunt under the banner of Women Empowerment Program of Human Right Council of Pakistan (HRCP) will start in the first week of September wherein players from across the province would participate in softball, baseball, cricket and football competitions.
The decision in this connection was taken in a meeting of the Women Working Group (WWG) chaired by Shahid Khan Shinwari here Monday. Senior Vice Chairman HRCP with Miss Najma Qazi, Assistant Operations Manager Pakistan Cricket Board Haseena Khushboo, Director Sports Sadia Khan, former national athlete Shazia Ayub, Aziza Ehsan and Miss Sumayah Ahmed (Swat) participated in the meeting.
The Women Working Group (WWG), working under the umbrella of Women Empowerment is aimed at bringing the neglected female athletes to the fore in various sports activities.

It was said in the meeting that in various games, teams are formed only from Peshawar who participate in the games at different levels while players from other districts of the province are completely ignored. Shahid Khan Shinwari, who is also the President of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Softball Association and former President of FATA Olympic Association, said that one of the reasons for the decline of sports in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is that the selection of teams has been limited to Peshawar district only.
No attention is being paid to the players of other districts or regions including Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Kohat, Swat, Mardan, Hazara and merged tribal areas.
He said that U23 Games have been organized recently, which is a welcome initiative, but it will not be possible to promote sports in the future, as the age of the player has passed by U23 and work should be made at the grassroots level in the age of U14, U16 and U19.

Shahid Khan said that the women’s talent hunt program, which will be started in the first week of September this year, will be started with softball, in which one team will participate from all seven regions and a team from merged tribal areas.
He said out of that Talent Hunt through competitions, one team would be short-listed to represent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in various level competitions at National Junior and National Senior levels. He said that six teams will participate in cricket while eight teams each will participate in football and baseball. Players will be selected for these games by holding open trials in each region and the deprivation of talented players will be removed.
Najma Qazi said that the softball event will be played at Board Ground or Hayatabad Sports Complex. All the players will be provided daily allowance and traveling allowance as well as kits, Najma Qazi said. Each team will consist of 12 players and one official, Director WWG Najma Qazi said.

Director players Sadia Khan will look after all the players during the talent hunt while, former national athlete and baseball gold medalist Shazia Ayub and Hasina Khushboo will perform duties of player data record and ensuring facilities including kits and camp training. Najma Qazi said that a total of 72 players will participate in the softball games and the competition will continue for five days.
Shahid Khan said a coaching and refresher course with the support of Pakistan Softball Federation will be organized to update all KP officials with much needed rules and regulations. He said that he would also meet Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, Education Minister Meena Khan Afridi, Sports Adviser Syed Fakhar Jahan, Secretary Sports and Director General Sports so that this talent hunt can be expanded to other games and the players can be trained for different games under women coaches. He said women athletes of KP could be ensured their rightful place under the banner of Women Empowerment Pakistan.