Villagers young and old gathered at a ground in Bhallar Joggi to see around dozens of young men from across the country participate in a centuries-old traditional sport while festively-dressed drummers played music to warm up the crowd.

The men were contesting in a traditional weight-lifting sport called Watee or Gutti lifting, well-known in rural areas in the Potohar region, the Chach area in Attock district and in the Hazara division. In the competition, contestants lift rocks weighing between 80 and 400 kilograms. To win, they must lift the stone high in the air, and then throw it back with a jerk.

Most traditional weight-lifters compete in fairs around the year, in competitions held in rural areas in the region.

According to Hassanabdal Municipal Committee Chairman Zaheer Ahmed, who was invited to the competition as the chief guest, folk fairs are the only means through which to keep this traditional sport alive.

He said it was imperative to preserve the legacy of the sport, which the region is widely known for. A contest is held in the village every year for men to compete and exhibit their skills.

“Watee or Gutti lifting is just like weight-lifting, the only difference between the two is that Watee is made of stone while the other uses iron weights,” local journalist Shahid Khan said.

He said Watee, which is oval in shape, and Budkar, which is rectangular, are chiselled until the surface is smooth – they weigh between 50 and 300kg. Budkars have carved handles, making them easier to lift, while the Watee has no handle at all.

Mr Khan said stone-lifting is a centuries’ old tradition in Punjab popular in the Potohar region and the rural areas of Hazara, particularly in Khanur and Haripur.

He said that the Potohar and Hazara regions are a hub for this sport.

Syed Zaheer Hussain Shah Zildar, who organizes stone-lifting competitions, said Gutti has four categories for weights between 80 and 120kg. There is no bar on the age of the competitor, but most are between the ages of 18 and 22.

The sport is famous in various rural parts of Punjab, and competitions are annual features in the Taxila, Chach, Hazara, Attock and Potohar regions.

Competitions are held on the eve of urs celebrations, at fairs and at the start of the harvesting season, he said. The sport was famous between the 1980s and 90s across the province, particularly in the Potohar region, but with time its popularity has declined due to a lack of participation by the youth – whose attention was diverted to other sports such as cricket – and official patronage, as well as the unavailability of pure food,

A participant in the 110kg contest, Bilal Gondal, said athletes practice every day, and their diet consists of milk, desi ghee and meat. He said that young people can be deterred from engaging in harmful activities through the promotion of sport and traditional games.

Mr Gondal is from Mandi Bahauddin, where this sport remains popular. He said he was inspired by other villagers to join the sport.

Another competitor, Shahzad Ahmed, said this sport was a family sport for him, as his father, uncles and grandfather were weight-lifters in Taxila.

Although he is the third generation of his family to participate, Mr Ahmed said the future of the sport is bleak as no one else in his family is ready to pursue it due to the lack of pure food, resources and state patronage.

Organiser Sajjad Ali Shah told Dawn the sport is on the verge of extinction due to the lack of patronage by the government. There are no regular competitions at the district, regional, provincial or national level, he said, and it is impossible for young people to take up the sport professionally without official patronage.

Discussing the history of the sport, A.G. Lone, a senior official with the Department of Archaeology and Museums, said Gutti has its origin in a centuries-old rural sport, in which someone from a bride’s wedding procession would throw around an 80kg stone and wait for someone from the groom’s side to take up the challenge to lift it.

“Failure proved fatal for the groom, as failure meant the procession was delayed until he succeeded,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2019