CHITRAL: Promising young Polo player Ilyas two timely goals and a goal scored by star player Miraj guided Chitral to a comfortable 7-5 victory to claim Shandur Polo Festival-2023 title in a thrilling free style game played at the world highest Polo ground, situated on Shandur Pass, in Upper Chitral district on Sunday.
Corps Commander Peshawar Lt-Gen Hasan Azhar Hayat was the special guest of the final match. Before the start of the matches, the teams of both Chitral and Gilgit were introduced to him. A large number of local and foreign tourists participated in the festival.
At the closing ceremony, students from local school presented a tableau while paragliding, paratrooper, and FC dance performance, Kalasha dance performance and other performances were other main features of the concluding day of the three-day festival.
The festival was organized in collaboration with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Culture and Tourism Authority, Pakistan Army and the district administration.
At the festival, the local artists of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) performed in a musical concert on the previous day.
The artistic works of the talented people of Chitral and GB were put on display for tourists and guests. A large number of local and foreign tourists were present in the grounds to watch.
During the match, the players were strongly encouraged by tourists including fans from GB and Chitral.
On the first day of the festival, a cultural night of Chitral was organized, while on the previous day, a musical concert of GB was organized, in which artistes entertained the audience by singing traditional and cultural songs and promoted the rich culture of the region. Paragliding was also performed brilliantly.
At the end of the match, students from different schools presented special national songs.
The final game started with a high speed as players of both teams tried hard to outclass the other in the first half amid cheering hands by a large number of spectators. In the first half, Chitral was leading 3-1 and went on to extend their advantage to 4-1 in the second half.
The players of Chitral including captain Israr Wali, Shahzad Ahmad, Amir Hama, Izhar Ali Khan Muhammad Ilyas, and Miraj Uddin played like rock and did not give much time to the GB team to strike back.
However, the GB team made an impressive comeback with two quick goals to make the match interesting. The team came close to levelling the match on numerous occasions but Chitral players held their nerve to win the match 7-5.
The three-day Shandur Polo festival took place from July 7-9 with participants from various parts of the country and abroad. Besides Polo, the participants enjoyed traditional food and cultural dances besides rock climbing, trekking and paragliding.
The tribes from the regions of GB and Chitral meet at the Shandur pass every summer. The pass has a beautiful polo ground where unique free-style polo is played among different teams of the region.
Shandur Polo ground is considered to be the highest polo ground in the world at 3,700 meters where the historic game has been played since 1930. The polo ground is adjacent to Shandur Lake. The festival provides an amazing cultural experience to visitors in the Hindukush mountain ranges.
Later, the Shandur polo trophy 2023 was handed over to the winning team Captain amid laughter by the players and their supporters. Chitral won the festival continuously with a record 13 times.
At the end, Corps Commander Peshawar Lt-Gen Hasan Azhar Hayat distributed trophies, gifts, and cash prizes to the winning and runners-up players and team captains.
