Paktika youth without proper playgrounds, venues

SHARANA (Pajhwok): Residents of southeastern Paktika province say there are talented players of various games, but they lack suitable playgrounds and venues.

Due to lack of proper playgrounds, players of cricket, volleyball, football, javelin throw and other sports play on dirt and uneven fields, they added.

Hamid Hamim, a resident of Sharana, the capital of Paktika province, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the government had not paid attention to sports in the province for years and there was still no standard playground.

He said there were special teams and talented players for cricket, neza bazi and other sports in the province, but there was no standard playing field.

He said that although the construction of some sports stadiums and a gymnasium, including cricket, had been started in the province during the previous government, but they were yet to be completed.

He called on the provincial and central authorities to start work on the stadiums and gymnasiums and complete them in a standard manner.

Rahmatullah, another resident of Paktika, said that the youth of the province had special talents in various sports which needed to be developed.

According to him, an important step in this regard is to build standard playgrounds and stadiums in the province.

Dr Zainuddin, an Olympic coach in Paktika, said they had never received necessary assistance in terms of sports equipment. The government should set up a regular sports gymnasium and sports camp in the province.

He told Pajhwok Afghan News: "We want a well-organized gymnasium for athletes in Paktika, a good camp, and the government and national businessmen should equip and sponsor us so that we can play nationally and internationally."

Sherdal Danish, head of the cricket stadium in Paktika, told Pajhwok Afghan News that during the previous government, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) was given 30 acres of land for building the stadium. He said the first phase of the project which included boundary wall and a building had been completed.

He added that work on the second phase of the stadium (ground, lawn, seating area and academy) had been contracted out but had stalled since the fall of the previous government.

He said he had talked to the Afghanistan Cricket Board and provincial officials about resume work on the stadium and he was assured that construction work would resume in the near future.

Osman Seerat, the head of the Olympic department in the province, told Pajhwok Afghan News that 95 percent of the work on the gymnasium had been completed and the remaining five percent had been proposed to the relevant authorities, which would be completed in the future. .

In the southeastern zone, Paktika is one of the provinces where besides cricket, football and volleyball, martial arts and javelin throw are also played.

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