LAHORE    -    President of Pakistan, Dr Arif Alvi presented Paki­stan’s highest civilian award, Nishan-e-Imtiaz, to squash legends Jah­angir Khan and Jansher Khan on the occasion of Pakistan Day. 

After receiving the award, Jahangir tweeted: “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of the hard work you already did. I want to share this lesson with the youth, never give up! I dedicate this award to the resilient people of Paki­stan, my fans & everyone who was part of my jour­ney. Pakistan zindabad!” 

Jahangir and Jansher led Pakistan’s dominance in the world of Squad. Jahangir Jahangir won British Open for record consecutive 10 times and World Open six times. In 1981 at the age of 17, Jah­angir became the young­est winner of the World Open, beating Australia’s Geoff Hunt in final. 

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With this award, leg­endary Jansher Khan is the first Pakistani player to win four major na­tional honours including Presidential Pride of Per­formance in (1986), Sita­ra-e-Imtiaz in (1994), Hi­lal-e-Imtiaz in (1998) and Nishan-e-Imtiaz (2023). Jahangir Khan has earned the three honors includ­ing President Pride of Per­formance, Hilal-e-Imtiaz and Nishan-e-Imtiaz. 

Jansher Khan thanked PM Mian Shehbaz Sharif, Defense Minister Khawaja M Asif and Governor KP Haji Ghulam Ali for being nominated for Nishan-e- Imtiaz Award for his ser­vices to the country and the nation. “I hope Mian Nawaz Sharif, Mian She­hbaz Sharif, Kh Asif and Haji Ghulam Ali would continue to play their spe­cial role for squash so that we may regain our dignity in the world of squash again,” said Jansher. 

Meanwhile, Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman on Thursday awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz to Pakistan skip­per Babar Azam in the field of sports on behalf of President Dr Arif Alvi dur­ing the ceremony held in connection with Pakistan Day (23rd March) here at the Governor House. 

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Babar Azam won a lot of awards in his career including ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year 2021 and ICC Player of the Month 2021. With the conferment of the award, Babar became the young­est person to be awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz at the age of 28 for his outstanding achievements in the field of cricket. Previously, former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed held the record as the youngest person to be awarded the prestigious award by then Sindh Gov­ernor Muhammad Zubair at the Governor House in Karachi in 2018. 

Former Pakistan’s women cricket team cap­tain Bismah Maroof was conferred with Tamgha-e-Imtiaz for her services on cricket field. Bismah received her accolade from President of Paki­stan, Dr Arif Alvi, during Pakistan Day ceremony in Islamabad. 

Taking to twitter, Bis­mah dedicated her award to her parents. “Humbled and honoured to receive the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz. I dedicate this award to my parents especially to my baba, who stood by me through thick and thin. His cheers for me got through my hardest days,” she tweeted. 

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Commonwealth Games 2022 gold medalists Ar­shad Nadeem and Nooh Dastagir Butt received Pride of Performance awards on the occasion of Pakistan Day. Olympian Arshad won gold medal in javelin throw event of CWG whereas Nooh Butt bagged first position in weightlifting event. Gu­jranwala-born weight­lifter was the first in CWG who bagged gold medal. He lifted a record weight of 405kg in the 109+kg category of the event.