Pakistan Army has always remained at the forefront for promotion of sports in the country. It has the unique honour of having sports legends of international standing like Honorary Captain Mubarak, Honorary Capitan Bashir, Havaldar Khaliq, Havaldar Younas Khan and now recently Nasim Hameed.
To maintain this standing in sports, Pakistan Army, under special instructions of Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has launched 'Army Young Boys Sportsmen Scheme'.
The objective of this scheme is to pick talented young sportsmen of age 14 years for various games. Army, after selection of these teenage sportsmen, will provide them stipends, free education and coaching in various sports disciplines.
Army Sports Directorate is busy selecting youth under the talent hunt scheme from the entire length and breadth of the country. The selection committee has so far visited Gilgit, Skardu, Mardan, Peshwar, Attock, Chakwal, Minawali, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Toba Tek Singh, Sialkot, Shahargarh, Lahore and Kasur.
The team will visit Sahiwal, Multan, Bahawalpur, Karachi, Quetta and Gujjar Khan during September and October. The sports disciplines for selection include athletics, boxing, martial arts, hockey and squash.
Pakistan Army earlier initiated two schemes on the same pattern. The results attained under these were encouraging as some of the sportsman like Naik Noman Karim, Havaldar Zafar Iqbal, Sepoy Asif Javed, Havaldar Saif-ud-din and Sepoy Faisal Iqbal won laurels for the country at national and international level competitions in boxing, athletics and gymnastics.
Apart from sports, these talented young men also gave a splendid performance in academies. A total of 47 students of this scheme appeared in matriculation exams, of which 25 secured first division while the remaining attained second.