CHITRAL: The Shandur Polo Festival was started on Sunday with an outstanding match between the teams of Laspur, Chitral and Ghizer, Gilgit-Baltistan that was followed by paragliding, mountain race and a flurry of other lively activities including cultural show.

Inspector General of Frontier Corps Nasim Ahmed Khan formally inaugurated the festival by hurling the ball into the ground between the Laspur team of Chitral and Ghizer team of Gilgit-Baltistan arrayed on opposite sides of the centre line of the ground.

In the first match, the Ghizer team beat the Laspur by one goal after hectic efforts and scored eight goals against the seven goals of the opponent. In the second match, Mastuj team of Chitral thrashed the Yasin team of Gilgit-Baltistan by seven to zero goals.

Chief Minister Mahmood Khan gave away shields and prizes to the winning teams and players as chief guest on the occasion while Minister of Tourism Atif Khan and Information Minister Shaukat Yousufzai were also presented on the occasion.

The festival will conclude on Tuesday with the final match between the A teams of Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan wherein Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to be the chief guest.

The festival has been held every year since 1982 as calendar event by the tourism department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and managed by the district administration.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2019