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Press Release - XXI Commonwealth Games Gold Coast 2018 Back To Main

My Dear Media Friends,

Assalamualaikum,

On the invitation of Lt Gen (R) Syed Arif Hasan, HI(M)  President POA, a reception in the honour of Medal winners in the recently concluded XXI Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, Australia was arranged today i.e. 20 April, 2018 at Olympic House, Lahore. A great number of media people were present to cover the proceedings of the reception. It is for the public awareness that Medals are won by athletes who keep struggling and improve their performance with commitment and dedication. The excitement, sentiments and feelings when you win a competition or achieve a medal cannot be described in words. We are proud of our heroes who won Gold and Bronze Medals and they are:

Muhammad Inam Butt, Gold Medalist (Wrestling)
Muhammad Bilal, Bronze Medalist (Wrestling)
Tayab Raza, Bronze Medalist (Wrestling)
Talha Talib, Bronze Medalist (Weightlifting)
Muhammad Nooh Dastgir, Bronze Medalist (Weightlifting)

The President POA for the encouragement of Medalists announced and distributed Rupees Three Lacas for Gold Medal Winner and One Lac each for the Bronze Medalists. Their coaches were also awarded One Lac each. Letter of appreciations were also awarded to Pakistan Wrestling Federation, Pakistan Weightlifting Federation and Pakistan WAPDA. Four medalists belong to Pakistan WAPDA whereas one is from HEC.

The President POA in his speech welcomed all participants, media friends who came to honour the National heroes and congratulated the medalists declaring them pride of the country.

The great performance of Mr. Muhammad Inam Butt who won Gold Medals in Commonwealth Games, 2010 India and 2018 Gold Coast, Australia was lauded a lot. The efforts of the coaches were equally appreciated who trained the athletes for achieving medals.

The President further expressed that taking advantage of this occasion I would urge the Government of Pakistan and all other stakeholders to give handsome monetary awards to the medalists and also recommended the name of Mr. Muhammad Inam Butt for the Pride of Performance. Simultaneously he also suggested that Government of Pakistan should provide International standard infrastructure for Wrestlers and Weightlifters at Gujranwala for training the potential Medalists / Olympians of future. It is also right time that PSB should provide complete financial support to National Sports Federations to ensure participation in the Olympic Qualifying Round with an aim to qualify and strive for medal in 2020 Tokyo. It is imperative that both PSB and WAPDA should hire the services of foreign coaches to enhance the skills of our Weightlifters and Wrestlers to bring more laurels for the nation.

It is great honour for WAPDA that four medalists including Gold Medal (Mr. Muhammad Inam) are their part. Congratulations to Lt Gen (R) Muzammil Hussain, Chairman WAPDA and his team doing excellent job for sports promotion. My appreciation to Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, Chairman HEC since Mr. Tayab Raza belongs to HEC - a student of University of Central Punjab Lahore.

I do hope that Media will further project the performance of these Medalists in the best possible manner convincing the corporate sector of Pakistan to come forward to encourage the medalists and sponsor the future sports events. This gesture will serve an impetus for the young athletes to come forward and follow steps of the medalists.

Thank you very much for your presence for a noble cause.

Muhammad Khalid Mahmood
Secretary General, POA