MULTAN: The first mega sports event in the region, the South Punjab School Olympics of 2021, concluded with a colorful ceremony in Dera Ghazi Khan on Friday.

The event ‘SCHOOLYMPICS’ was organised by the School Education Department, South Punjab, in Dera Ghazi Khan and Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Hanif Pitafi, Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul and Secretary Education, South Punjab Dr Ehtasham Anwar were amongst the prominent guests, says a handout.

The government functionaries distributed medals and trophies among the winning teams and individuals. The SCHOOLYMPICS Trophy for the year went to Bahawalpur district for showing overall best performance and grabbing the highest number of gold medals and points. The District Education Authority, Bahawalpur, chief executive officer received the trophy. Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan got second and third positions respectively.

In his concluding remarks, Secretary Dr Anwar thanked all those who contributed towards the arrangements of the event and announced that it would take place at Multan next year. Accordingly, the flag of SCHOOLYMPICS was handed over by the CEO, District Education Authority, Dera Ghazi Khan to Multan’s Authority CEO.

Earlier, Bahawalpur Nawabs defeated Rahim Yar Khan Yaraan in a close contest in the final of hockey for boys. The match was decided on penalty strokes. The gold medal in hockey for girls also went to Bahawalpur which defeated Bahawalnagar team in the final.

The sporting event continued for five days in which more than 1,800 girls and boys competed for gold, silver and bronze medals in hockey, football, volleyball, badminton, table tennis and athletics.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2021