LAHORE: National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) released players’ salaries after nine months hiatus following Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s decision to revive the structure of departmental sports, a day earlier. 

According to the details, NBP issued discontinued salaries to the players associated with the organization after PM lifted the ban on departmental sports.

The players were rejoiced by the move as they faced a financial crunch following a decision taken last year to stop public departments, corporations and autonomous bodies from funding the sports teams.

The decision to restore the departmental sports was widely hailed by various sports bodies and athletes including Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).

“We are grateful to PM for his decision to restore the departmental sports. He has taken a big step towards the revival of sports in the country,” said POA in a press release. “More opportunities will be created for the athletes with the revival of departmental sports”

The decision to discontinue the funding of departmental teams had rendered a large number of athletes in Pakistan jobless as they relied on departmental jobs to take care of their financial matters in order to focus on sports.

It is pertinent to mention here that PM Shehbaz announced the lifting of the ban on departmental sports yesterday with the aim to help youngsters to excel in the field of sports and bring out talent in the country.

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