LAHORE -Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Pun­jab Shahid Zaman has said that a sus­tainable sports calendar and strategy are being devised and this working will be beneficial to a great extent for the future of sports in the province.

He said this while talking to the media at the concluding ceremony of the Sports Board Punjab’s High Performance Ten­nis Training Camp here at the SBP Ten­nis Academy. Director Youth Affairs Syed Umair Hassan, Punjab Lawn Tennis As­sociation (PLTA) Secretary and Director Camp Rashid Malik (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz) and a large number of young tennis play­ers, coaches and officials were also present on this occasion.

Speaking on this occasion, Secretary Sports Shahid Zaman said that the sports of the Pun­jab province has been put in the right direc­tion. “We have organized several sports events and training camps in the recent past and this positive practice will continue in future as well under a systematic manner.” He added that the preparation of biennial sports calendar is in progress and this sports calendar will continue to benefit players in future. “An ef­fective sports strategy is being carved out to promote sports culture and bring out new talent from across the province. The ITF Fu­tures will also be hosted here at the interna­tional world class tennis center.”

The Secretary Sports said that the SBP High Performance Free Tennis Training Camp has played a key role in improving the game of young players. “This camp was organised to provide an opportunity to young tennis players to improve their games and skills. The camp probables must utilize the valuable training and tech­niques they have learnt under the supervi­sion of expert coaches at the camp in their future competitive events.”

Director Camp Rashid Malik, on this occa­sion, expressed his gratitude to Advisor to CM on Sports Wahab Riaz, Secretary Sports Sha­hid Zaman, Director General Sports Punjab Dr Asif Tufail and his entire team for success­fully organizing the High Performance Free Tennis Training Camp. “The Sports Board Punjab has been fully cooperating with us for promotion of tennis in the province. This camp will benefit the talented youth of Pun­jab in the long run and help in sharpening their skills, who, in return, will win laurels Pakistan at higher level.” At the prize distri­bution ceremony, Secretary Sports Shahid Zaman distributed cash prizes and shields among the players, coaches and officials par­ticipating in the camp. Davis Cupper Coach Heera Ashiq (Rs 140,000), Ahmed Babar (120,000), Imran Bhatti (85,000), Camp Co­ordinator Faheem Siddiqui (50,000), Physi­cal Trainer Syed Azhar Hussain (30,000), Coach Tayyab (20,000) and Coach Ilyas (20,000) were handed handsome cash priz­es by the chief guest while SBP tennis court staff – M Akmal (5,000), M Zubair Khan (7,000), Mansoor Nawaz (5,000), Babar Ali (5,000) and sweepers (10,000) – were also given away cash prizes.