Shandur polo festival starts in Upper Chitral

SHANDUR (UPPER CHITRAL): The annual Shandur polo festival 2022 started on July 1 after a gap of two years, which will continue till July 3. In 2020 and 2021, the event could not be held due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Thousands of people had encamped at the venue days before the start of the three-day Shandur polo festival, also featuring traditional games and sports of Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mehmood Khan was expected to inaugurate the festival but he did not show up and in his place secretary sports Tahir Khan Orakzai opened the event by throwing the ball into the ground.

The first match was between the teams of Laspur located on the Chitral side of Shandur and Ghizer situated on the Gilgit-Baltsitan side.  The Laspur team outclassed the Ghizer players by scoring 15 goals against just four. The winners scored eight goals in the first half and seven in the second half while the Ghizer side scored just one in first and three in the second half.

In the second polo match, Chitral D was defeated by Gilgit D team by six to four goals.

The third match was between the subdivisions of Mastuj and Yesen and in the given time the two teams scored six goals each.An extra 10 minutes was given in which Mastuj scored one goal and won the match.