Talent Hunt Scheme At Cost Of Rs. 53 Million To Be Launched In All 26 Districts Across KP: Junaid Khan

The Directorate of Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has chalked out a plan to launch a talent hunt program in all 26 districts across the province costing them Rs. 3 million in eight different games wherein players are coming in to the national pool on regular basis comprising at national and international levels.

PESHAWAR, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Aug, 2018 ) :The Directorate of Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has chalked out a plan to launch a talent hunt program in all 26 districts across the province costing them Rs. 3 million in eight different games wherein players are coming in to the national pool on regular basis comprising at national and international levels.

This was stated by DG Sports Junaid Khan while talking to media persons during a condolence reference held to pay homage to international karate player who was recently being gun down by some unknown assailants in Tehsil Bara, Khyber Agency.

He said the program is aimed at to fine out new faces in the games comprising athletic (male and female), squash (male and female), volleyball (male and female), hockey (male and female), football (male and female), badminton (male and female), table tennis (male and female) and tennis (male and female) and cricket (male and female).

The initiative is being launched to find raw talent and properly train the young talented male and female players, provide them opportunities to represent the province at national level events and get selected in national teams to represent the country at the international level respectively, he added.

"We have prepared a PC-1 for the scheme which was being revised to make the process of selections of young and talented players more transparent and open to ensure that talented and deserving players would get opportunities to show their hidden skills and talent.

Junaid Khan said that the Directorate of Sports has included the talent hunt program in the next Annual Development Program (ADP) for the fiscal 2018-19. "We have already submitted the program earlier so that to launch it in the last fiscal year but the government did not present the budget for this year and we have to revise the plan for the next year," he explained.

He said that the plan was devised after suggestions from various quarters to launch an initiative to find new and young talent at earlier age U-19 or U-16 than that of U-23 age. "There were demands and need for starting a program for U-19 or U-16 to find raw talent and properly train them under the qualified coaches for longer duration with the aim to promote sports in the province," he added. "We have already talked to the sports technocrats and all of them suggested selecting players purely on merit through each game Championship at district level," he said, adding, the trials of aspirant candidates would be conducted in various sports disciplines including cricket, hockey, football, squash, badminton, volleyball, athletics, table tennis and tennis.

"We have to involve both male and female," he informed.

He said that the Directorate proposed the initial grant of Rs 53 million for the scheme.

Junaid Khan said that the Directorate has planned to allocate up to Rs.11 million of the fund for cricket alone and the rest would be spent on other games included in the scheme. He said the procedures how to select a talented player was under consideration. "We are considering two options for selection of players. The first options is to publish advertisements in print media asking the youth to get registered at the concerned District Sports Office (DSO) where experts in the relevant sports disciplines would shortlist the players. The other option is to direct the registered sports clubs in all the districts to form U-19 teams to participate in the talent hunt," he added.

He said, going with the first option the Directorate would form a four members' selection committee comprising a coach, provincial and district general secretaries of the concerned sports discipline association and DSO. The Assistant Director (AD) would play the role of an observer during the selection process. "The AD and general secretary of provincial association would play the role of observers, DSO as facilitator, the district general secretary of association would identify and recommend the talent and the coach job's would be to select a player," he added. He said that teams comprising the selected players would be formed and competitions among these teams would be held at district level to selected one teams each of every sports discipline.

Junaid Khan said that later, competitions among the district teams would be organized to select one provincial team, adding these players would be given the opportunity to play in national level sports events. "The national level sports bodies can pick a talented player from these teams for national teams. We would also invite various government departments and present these players to them to hire and choose them for their teams," he added.

He said that the program would provide an opportunity to talented players to show their talent and get the opportunity to be selected in national sports teams. "The initiative would help bring real talent forward. It would also help the selectors of various sports disciplines to selected best among the lot for their teams and international events to produce good results for the country at internationallevel events," he added.