A. Majid Khan
KARACHI,March 30: Pir Aftab Shah Jilani, Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports, has said that Mirpurkhas`s renovated Gama Stadium,once the venue of first class cricket, would regain its lost status after making the ground lush green and laying the strips.
Pir Aftab Shah Jilani stated that the Rs 10 lakh announced by the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Abdullah Shah at the ceremony, would be spent on the development of Gama Stadium.
Pir Aftab Shah Jilani had captained Hyderabad in first class cricket match against the 1974 touring Sri Lanka team at the Gama Stadium and in December last year he was the chef de mission of the Pakistan Contingent for the Madras SAF Games.
He stated that a sum of Rs five lakhs had already been spent on the expansion and development of the Gama Stadium, the main venue of the seventh Sindh Games.
The games had ended in tremendous success and he particulary lauded the hard work carried out by Mr Abdul Jabbar Abbasi, Chairman of the Organising Committee, who is the DC and chief of the District Sports Committee.
The Sindh Games were cocontested by the five divisions-Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana, Sukkur and hosts Mirpurkhas and the competitions were held in healthy atmosphere with Karachi retaining the general trophy for the seventh time.
Pir Aftab Shah Jilani said we have enormous talented youngsters in every game, include cricket, and the Sindh Games for which the Sindh Sports Board had given Rs 22 lakhs, would further help boost healthy activities in Mirpurkhas division.
He said the plan is being worked out for laying the new pitches and making the Gama Stadium ground grassy. The ground would be made worthy for first class and efforts would be made to have the foreign team matches also at Mirpurkhas.
Sri Lanka had played a first class match at Mirpurkhas`s Gama Stadium 22 years ago in I974. But thereafter there had been no first class matches at the Gama Stadium for several reasons, he stated.
Pir Aftab Shah Jilani said Mirpurkhas needs more sports infrastructure to divert the extra energy of youth towards sports and games.
The provincial government is keen to promote sports and games and it has already taken several steps to provide healthy competitions in every part of Sindh to divert the extra energy of youth towards healthy activities, he stated.