HARIPUR
Riding on his horse Much Much More Chaudhry Hassan Mahmood of Al-Sheikh Club grabbed gold medal in the Traditional Games Tent Pegging Contests played at Jati Pend village, Khag, District Haripur on Monday.
MNA Umar Ayub Khan formally inaugurated the contests with more than 251 riders with their decorated horses from almost all 29 clubs across Pakistan took part. Recently elected Nazim of the Area Muhammad Waseem Gujjar, President Pakistan Tent-Pegging Federation Malik Meharban, Regional Sports Officer Hazara Ahmed Zaman, DSO Haripur Faisal Javed, DSO Mansehra Atif, Assistant Director Irshad Khan and other important personalities, hundreds and thousands of game loving spectators were present.
The competitions in connection with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Traditional Games organized by Directorate General Sports KP in District Haripur came to an end with sweet memories.
Mehr Umar Draz, Mehr Azhar Shamim and Malik Zahoor Ahmed, hailing from Al-Sheikh Club won the first position in the Team contests. Pindi Ghazi Club riders including Hafiz Khawajah Hamza Hayat, Sardar Nouman Khan, Malik Sufiyan Khan and Khan Khaizer Khawar, Al-Kabeer Awan Club of Bannu with riders Wajahatullah Khan, Haji Malik Imtiaz Khan, Haji Ustad Zulqarnain and Haji Khan Zeeshan Khan Baloch took the third position.
Similarly, in individual competitions, Chaudhry Hassan Mahmood of Al Sheikh Club won gold, Hamza Javed Bhatti of Hussainia Naqvi Al Bukhari Club on his horse name Haidry won silver and Malik Zahoor Ahmed of Al Sheikh Club on his horse name Badal won bronze medal.
A total of 251 players from 29 clubs from across the country took part while a large number of spectators were present to watch the overnight matches and pay tribute to their respective players.
In order to highlight the cultural and regional sports in the province, the ongoing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Traditional Games, competitions in Haripur district came to an end. Al Kabir Awan Bannu Club won the third position.
Similarly, in individual competitions, Chaudhry Hassan Mahmood of Al Sheikh Club won Gold, Hussainia Naqvi Hamza Javed Bhatti of Al Bukhari Club won Silver while Malik Zahoor Ahmed of Al Sheikh Club won Browns Medal.
Director General Galiyat Development Authority Captain (retd) Khalid Mahmood graced the occasion and distributed prizes among the winners. Tent pegging is a cavalry sport of ancient origin, and is one of only ten equestrian disciplines officially recognized by the International Equestrian Federation. Used narrowly, the term refers to a specific mounted game with ground targets. More broadly, it refers to the entire class of mounted cavalry games involving pointed and edged weapons (lance and sword) on horseback, for which the term “equestrian skill-at-arms” is also used. The specific game of tent pegging has a mounted horseman riding at a gallop and using a lance to pierce, pick up, and carry away a small ground target.
There were hundreds and thousands of spectators from the nearby villages and even some were part of the team contingent visited alongside their horses for the competitions from far flung areas of Punjab, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Captain (Retd) Khalid Mahmood appreciated the horsemen, saying tent-pegging was a 2500-year-old game practiced by warriors to mount pre-dawn raids on an enemy camp, using game’s skills to sever or uproot tent pegs. He urged the government to promote this native game.
