CHITRAL: The polo team of Chitral ‘A’ has been announced by the district administration to represent the region consisting of Upper and Lower Chitral districts in the three-day Shandur Cup Polo Tournament scheduled to commence from July 7.

However, the name of a legendary player has been excluded from the team. The team consists of Izhar Ali Khan (captain), Subedar Israr Wali, Havaldar Shahbaz Ahmed, Havaldar Mirajuddin, Naik Amir Hamza, Feroze Ali Khan, Havaldar Ziaur Rahman and Irfan Ali Khan.

The names of the players of three junior teams have also been announced as per which the team ‘B’ will be represented by Raza Khan (captain), Alhajur Rahman, Ishfaq Ahmed, Nasirullah Khan, Shah Wali, Asghar Hussain, Asif Hussain and Masoodur Rahman.

In the polo festival, four matches are played between Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan in which the concluding item and breathtaking moment of the festival is the match between the major teams of the areas.

Shahzada Sikandarul Mulk, the former skipper of Chitral polo team and incumbent president of district polo association, was excluded from the team all of sudden as his name was found missing from the notification issued in late hours of Sunday.

The exclusion of the name of the legendary polo player from the team has flabbergasted his fans and colleagues across the district as he had been heading the Chitral team in the Shandur polo ground for the last three-and-half decades continuously and was still fully fit for playing.

The general secretary of district polo association, Advocate Mueezud Din Bahram, said that in the meeting of selection committee held on June 29, the name of Shahzada Sikandar was included as team captain but it was missing when the notification was issued.

Shahzada Sikandarul Mulk, when contacted, said that there was no reason to remove him from the team while he had been representing the Chitral team for the last 38 years continuously.

“I was planning to send my horse to Shandur when I was told that my name was excluded from the team,” he said, adding that he did not expect such a decision on the basis of long association with polo spanning over four decades.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2019