Olympians Arshad, Talha get hefty cash prizes

LAHORE: Olympians javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem and weightlifter Talha Talib were honoured on Monday by their parent department Wapda with an extravagant cash prize of Rs2.5 million each for giving impressive performance at the recently-held Tokyo Olympics.

Arshad’s coach Fayyaz-ul-Hasan Bukhari also received a cash prize of Rs500,000.

Later, both the athletes were invited by Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar who handed each of them a cheque of Rs1 million.

A simple ceremony in this regard was held at the Wapda House during which chairman retired Lt Gen Muzammil Hussain awarded the cash prizes.

Both the young athletes finished fifth place in the finals of the their respective disciplines at Tokyo Games. The CM also gave cheques of Rs1 million each to mountaineers Shehroz Kashif and Sajid Sadpara.

Speaking on the occasion, Arshad said Wapda had played a great role in bringing him to this stage, and also thanked Federal IPC Minister Dr Fehmida Mirza, nation and media for their tremendous support before and after the Tokyo Olympics. He promised to fare better in the future competitions.

Talha, who attended the function with his father Mohammad Islam Natiq who is also his coach, and former national junior champion and bronze medallist at the Asian level in powerlifting, thanked Wapda for honouring him and recognising his achievement.On this occasion, emerging tennis star Abubakar who is a product of Wapda’s Sports Endowment Funds, was encouraged with a cash prize of Rs50,000.