CHITRAL: The Chitrali youth including girls performed par excellence in the Global Encounter Festival Dubai 2025 that concluded here on Sunday after continuing for 38 days; Ismaili Muslim youth from 50 different states of the world participated.

According to the information gathered by Dawn from families of some of the players, twin sisters Shehnila and Alina from the remote village of Morder in Upper Chitral won silver medals in 800m and 400m race respectively.

In football contest, eight boys from Chitral were part of the team representing Pakistan which emerged victorious to claim gold medal by thrashing Russia 3-1 in the final match.

Syed Miraj Shah, the father of Syed Hasnain Miraj, one of the players of the winning team told Dawn that it was huge credit for the people of Chitral that majority of the team that excelled in all the matches of the event belonged to Chitral.

GE festival Dubai 2025 was an event of Ismaili Muslims coming from different parts of the world featuring jubilee games sporting events, cultural exchange programmes and international art exhibition and performances.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2025