PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has approved commencement of U-21 Games 2020 in Peshawar from March 06.

According to an official statement, the inauguration ceremony will be held on March 08 at Qayyum Sports Complex Peshawar in which the arrival of Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected.

Approval for the schedule of the games was given at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mehmood Khan in Peshawar on Friday.

The U-21 competitions will be held in volleyball, athletics, tug-of-war, football, kabaddi, badminton, squash, snooker, etc. A total of 2,940 players from all the districts of KP, including merged tribal districts, will participate in the competitions.

The competitions will be held at Hayatabad Sports Complex, Peshawar Sports Complex, Arena Hall, Athletic Ground Peshawar University, JKD University Town, Government College Peshawar and Northern Bypass Peshawar.

The meeting was told that inter-region sports competitions would be held from March 06-10 in which male and female players from all the seven divisions of KP will participate. The inter-region games would include competitions in baseball, handball, lawn tennis, squash, boxing, basketball, handball, taekwondo, judo, wushu, hockey, snooker, cycling and other games. As many as 1,743 players, including 749 women, would participate in inter-region leg of the U-21 games.

In the second round, which will be held from April 15-18, competitions in hockey, table tennis, judo karate, taekwondo, wrestling, volleyball and athletics would be held. A total of 6,825 players would participate in this round of competitions. Open trials of players for the second round would be completed between April 02-10.

Chief Minister Mehmood Khan said during the meeting peace has returned to KP and now the government is focusing on arranging healthy activities. He said all steps will be taken to ensure durable peace.

Adviser to CM on tribal districts Ajmal Khan Wazir, Secretary Sports, DG Sports, IGP Sanaullah Abbasi and other officials also attended the meeting.

The meeting was told that all the arrangements for the inter-district and inter-region legs of the U-21 Games have been finalised. The chief minister expressed satisfaction over the briefing and said the Games would pave the way for emergence of new talent for national and international level sports competitions.