Shandur Polo Festival opens with fanfare

Event will continue for three days on ‘rooftop of the world’

CHITRAL:

Shandur Polo Festival at the world rooftop was inaugurated in a colourful opening ceremony with hundreds and thousands of vociferous spectators with their cheering hands and shouting. The Shandur Polo is being played between the teams of Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan, under freestyle rules. Commissioner Malakand Division Shahidullah Khan was the chief guest at the opening ceremony, who throw-in the ball and a match was played between Sarlaspur Upper and Sarlaspur Lower wherein Sarlapur Upper won it by 5-1.

Shahidullah Khan said that preparations for the Shandur Polo Festival started six months ago. “I pay tribute to the organizers for the successful organization of the festival. A request has been made to the government to build Mashtoj Road to facilitate tourists,” he added. DG KPCTA Mohammad Bakhtiar Khan, Brig Imran Khan, Director General Sports KP Captain (Retd) Khalid Mehmood, district administration officials and other important personalities were present on this occasion.

Polo matches in Shandur have been played between Chitral and Gilgit since the 1930s but at the government level, it was first organized in 1982. The event is since then organized by district administrations of Upper and Lower Chitral, and is financed by KhyberPakhtunkhwa government at Shandur top, which is the world’s highest polo ground at an altitude of 3,700 meters above sea level. The festival was also includes folk music, dancing, and a camping village set up. The polo tournament is featured in the first episode of Himalaya with Michael Plain. Since 1982 the Polo has been won 13 times by Gilgit-Baltistan and 16 times by Chitral.

Shahzada Sikandar Ul Mulk (Captain of Chitral Polo team) has won a staggering 13 times while leading as a captain of his team. He is the most successful captain ever followed by Raji Rehmat of Gilgit who has won it seven times for his team. The world’s highest polo ground is in the small village of Shandur, located at an altitude of 12,000 feet above sea level, the ground sits in the shadow of the towering Hindu Kush mountain range.

The unique location of the polo ground makes it a popular destination for adventure seekers and polo enthusiasts. Polo at world’s ‘rooftop’ readies for polo festival wherein teams of Chitral and arch-rival GilgitBaltistan looked enthusiastic, stamping their superiorities on each other when they will be in the field free for all rules.