Pakistan’s Olympics medal hopes get much-needed boost

The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) has announced that 12 local athletes will get scholarship, which have been awarded by IOC Olympic Solidarity, in order to prepare for the Paris Olympics in 2024.

It must be noted that the aim of Olympic Solidarity (OS) is to provide assistance to all National Olympic Committees (NOCs) for athlete development programmes, in particular those with the greatest needs of it.

The athletes include Arshad Nadeem (Athletics), Mahoor Shahzad (Badminton) Usman Chand, Gulfam Joseph, Anna Ibtisam, Kishmala Talat, Rasam Gull (Shooting), Jehanara Nabi (Swimming), Perniya Zaman Khan (Table Tennis), Muhammad Nooh Dastgir Butt (Weightlifting), Muhammad Bilal and Muhammad Inam (Wrestling).

According to a press release issued by POA, the Olympic scholarship will start on January 1, 2022 and will be divided into separate terms running for a four-month period each until August 31, 2024. Each athlete will be awarded USD650/- per month scholarship for preparation of the Summer Olympic Games Paris 2024.

As soon as the scholarship agreements are signed by the athletes and National Federation, NOC Pakistan and OS, the scholarship will be activated.

Pakistan’s last Olympic medal was won by the national hockey team, when it claimed bronze during the 1992 Barcelona event.