By Hira Nafees Shah
UGrad Alumnus Roohullah Jan organized a “Sports for Peace” Gala in Peshawar from 10th to 14th February, 2014.
Roohullah Jan was just in eighth grade when he started taking an interest in boxing, a passion that would convert into a full-fledged career in later years. He won the second position in National Games and also topped the admission list in the Geology Department in Peshawar University, solely on the basis of his talent.
But even then, opportunities for athletes to build their skills were few and hard to come by for Jan and other players like him in Peshawar—the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“I felt that I was not getting a proper platform and neither were the other players to showcase our talents, because the facilities were limited and the security situation was poor,” he said.
Frustrated by the lack of opportunities in the sports arena, the Global UGrad alumnus came up with an innovative idea to provide a venue for upcoming athletes to hone their talents. Jan decided to arrange a “Sports for Peace Gala” in Peshawar, to give young and energetic athletes and students a platform to realize their potential.
Global UGrad Alumnus Roohullah Jan
The Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network funded the tournament with an Alumni Small Grant. All alumni of various U.S sponsored exchange programs in Pakistan are eligible to apply for the grant to give back to their communities.
The massive four day event offered athletes the opportunity to participate in six games –three for females (badminton, table tennis and volleyball) and three for males (cricket, football and hockey).
The response was so enthusiastic that more than 900 participants from all over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA ended up taking part in the gala, with 32 teams registered to play cricket alone.
Liba Zaman is a professional sportswoman. She says she gained valuable experience by helping to organize the event, and was also able to inspire others.
“I was able to motivate other prospective female players and also learned about the budding talent in them by helping to arrange the Sports Gala,” Zaman said.
She added that the university–the venue for the event–was so pleased by the female participation that its sports society is now thinking of making a cricket team exclusively for women.
All the matches for girls were held indoors and the audience was females only. This enabled more than 40 participants to step forward and comfortably take part in the tournament in the conservative province.
Uzma Gul a student of Art and Design was also one of them. She found out about the gala by reading an advertisement about the event and was instantly intrigued.
“I took part in the badminton matches because I am very interested in sports and wanted to learn,” she said.
Gul won the final badminton match in the girls’ category and received a shield, a certificate and a track suit. She was ecstatic at having won the first prize.
“I have become popular in my hostel after winning the gala,” Gul said while gushing about her experience. “I feel that now I can become very active in sports and can progress in life.”
Women were not the only athletes who benefited from the event. The male participants were also full of praise for the experience.
Haroon Afridi, a professional cricket player who has played in Under 19 matches for the Pakistan national cricket team, welcomed the rare opportunity.
“It is for the first time ever that a Sports Gala was held in Peshawar in which students from different universities in the province received an opportunity to participate,” said Afridi.
He also appreciated the networking that he was able to carry out as a result of taking part in the extravaganza. Afridi mentioned that a number of people complimented him for his talent and he was also able to make a lot of new friends.
For UGrad alumnus and a fellow organizer Yasir Shaheen the event was a decisive step towards supporting peace in the region.
“We wanted to promote sportsmanship in the people in the province through the Sports Gala,” he said. “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is being disturbed by various factors and sports serves as a ray of hope for the locals.”
As the tournament wrapped up, it became evident that the organizers had been successful in achieving their objective. Jan said the feedback had been extremely positive and the experience had been historic for him.
“I learned so much from organizing the Sports Gala that I did not learn as much during my whole sporting career,” he said. “Now everyone wants to know when we will organize the next event.”
The UGrad alumnus was so passionate about making sure that the arrangement for his project was up to the mark, that he did not go home for two months and stayed at a hostel at the university.
Moving forward, Jan wants to arrange a sports tournament for women only, and will no doubt find a number of participants who would be very interested in taking part in the upcoming event.
For more on the Sports For Peace Gala, visit:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sports-For-PEACE/662372137152761
