CHITRAL: To celebrate the fascinations of autumn colours, a polo tournament kicked off here on Tuesday.

About two dozen teams from every nook and corner of the district are participating.

Thousands of game lovers also thronged the polo ground to attend the inauguration ceremony, which featured a number of colourful cultural events before the ball was thrown into the field to formally start the first match.

The event is being celebrated jointly by the district administration and the directorates of sports and youth affairs. It will continue for four days while the final match of the tourney will be held under floodlights, the first of its kind in Chitral.

Commandant Chitral Scouts

Colonel Bilal Javed, Lower Chitral deputy commissioner Mohsin Iqbal and DPO Iftikhar Shah inaugurated the event.

Addressing the gathering, Mohsin Iqbal said that polo was the part and parcel of Chitrali culture, where it was the favourite game of the majority of people. “It is due to this reason that thousands of people throng the events of polo.”

He said that it was encouraging that the youth were attached with their cultural traits with polo on the top, while every possible effort was being made to provide them with such opportunities and patronage.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2024