Besides the anthem “Groove Mera,” another unconventional thing that has happened in the sixth edition of the Pakistan Super League is the collaboration of Islamabad United with Iqra University.
Yes, you heard it right! IU has partnered with ISLU as their Youth Sports Sponsor, and this is the first time that an educational institution has ventured into the PSL. The signing ceremony between the two organizations took place on Wednesday at IU’s main campus in Karachi.
It was attended by ISLU’s skipper Shadab Khan and other players - Muhammad Musa, Rumman Raees, and their general manager Rehan ul Haq. For IU, its co-founder Erum Lakhani and vice-chancellor Wasim Qazi did the honors.
Speaking on the occasion, Lakhani explained why the university chose to partner with a PSL franchise: “We have a pool of talent, most importantly the youth bulge in Pakistan that needs avenues to draw out their inner potential.”
She said that Pakistanis were a proud nation and had produced unbeatable players like Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan. She further added; that the country was once hockey and squash champions but sadly had lost these titles steadily because the sports had not received the due attention.
Meanwhile, Qazi commented that the events like PSL had attracted millions of young as well as elderly and promoted a festive mood in Pakistan, reflected the revival of international confidence in our sporting capabilities and boosted the country’s image as a sport and peace-loving society.
He was confident that their partnership with ISLU, will help us attract young people toward healthy activities and inspire them to build a prosperous and peaceful national society, which was also the goal of the IU.
Haq said that Pakistan’s youth had great potential and they were the future of this country. 'ISLU has always supported education in Pakistan, we believe in empowering the next generation and we can do that through our partnership with IU who have the same core values as us.'
A large number of sports enthusiast IU students participated in the event, took selfies with the ISLU stars as well their autograph. This perhaps prompted Khan to tweet about the happening:
Nevertheless, there were some troll moments as well as the keyboard warriors never miss a chance to let their creativity out with a penchant for fun and entertain us: