Shandur Polo Festival () is a sports festival held annually from 7th to 9th July in Shandur Polo Ground, Ghizer, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. The polo tournament is played between the teams of Gilgit-Baltistan Districts and Chitral District, under freestyle rules. Organized and financed by Gilgit-Baltistan Government. The tournament is held at Shandur Top which is the world highest polo ground at an altitude of 3,700 meters (the pass itself is at 3,800 meters). The festival also includes

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, dancing and a camping

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

is set up. The polo tournament is featured in the first episode of ''

Himalaya with Michael Palin ''Himalaya with Michael Palin'' is a 2004 BBC television series presented by comedian and travel presenter Michael Palin. It records his six-month trip around the Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, ...

''.

History

Polo is an

equestrian sport Equestrian sports are sports that use horses as a main part of the sport. This usually takes the form of the rider being on the horse's back, or the horses pulling some sort of horse-drawn vehicle. General * 4-H *Equitation *Horse show *Icelandic ...

first played in Central Asia in 6th century BC. Its objective was to train the cavalry and simulate a real-life battle.
The world’s highest polo ground is in the small village of Shindoor in Pakistan. Located at an altitude of 12,000 feet above sea level, the ground sits in the shadow of the towering Hindukash mountain range. The unique location of the polo ground makes it a popular destination for adventure seekers and polo enthusiasts.
In 1935, UK Administrator for Northern Areas Evelyn Hey Cobb asked Balti Raja of Skardu,

Ali Sher Khan Anchan Ali Sher Khan Anchan ( Balti: علی شیر خان انچن) (also called Ali Rai, Ray Alī, Alī Rai, Raja Sher Ali Mir, Mir Ali, Sher Ali and Ali Zad; 1590–1625) was a famous Balti king. He was a Maqpon dynasty king who unified Baltistan an ...

, and Nambardar of Chitral, Niat Qabool Hayat Kakakhel, to construct a polo ground in Shandur, which was duly completed with the help of the local population. This polo ground was later on named as "Mas Junali". The word "''Mass Junali"'' is derived from

Khowar language Khowar () or Chitrali, is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken in Chitral and surrounding areas in Pakistan. Khowar is the lingua franca of Chitral, and it is also spoken in the Gupis-Yasin and Ghizer districts of Gilgit-Baltistan, as ...

. The word "''Mas"'' means moon and "''Junali"'' means polo ground. Cobb was impressed by Kakakhail's resourcefulness and efficiency and wished to reward him for his service, but Kakakhail refused to accept any reward for his work. Instead, for the common benefit, Kakakhail asked Cobb to bring

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

to stock the local streams. Cobb ordered live trout from England and dropped them into the Ghizer River. Due to this service, the Directorate of Fisheries was established and hundreds of people were employed. Now, the mass of those fishes in Hundarap Lake reaches 24 kg and in Baha Lake Khukush Nallah, their mass reaches 40 kg. Therefore, Mas Junali became a source of connection between the people of

Chitral District Chitral District ( ur, ) was the largest district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, covering an area of 14,850 km², before splitting into Upper Chitral District and Lower Chitral District in 2018. Part of the Malakand Div ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

and neighbouring Gilgit-Baltistan.

Tournament format and rules

Free-styled mountain polo is arguably polo in its purest form. This version of the game played at Shandur Top has attained legendary status and is of great interest to international and domestic adventure tourists alike. There are no umpires and there are no holds barred. In ''The Roof of the World,'' Amin/Willets/Tetley write: "by comparison, an American Wild West rodeo might pass for choir practice." As one player once mentioned: "You can ride head-on into the opponent, if you dare." Polo game, Pakistan

In order to decide the final teams to play at the Shandur Polo Festival, preliminary matches are played both in Chitral and Gilgit, in which the best horses and players are chosen for the final games by the local juries. The festival begins on 7th July. During the course of the tournament A, B, C and D teams of Chitral and Gilgit battle it out on the polo field. Each team has six members with 2 to 4 reserve players in case of injury etc. The match usually lasts one hour. It is divided into two halves, with a ten-minute interval. During intervals, the locals enthrall the audiences with traditional and cultural performances. The game is decided in favour of the team scoring more goals. The final is held on 9th July. The field measures about 200 meters by 56 meters (a regular polo field is about 270m by 150m), with 60 cm high stone walls running the length of the field on both sides instead of boards. As six players make up one side, the field can get fairly crowded. This has the advantage of slightly slowing down the pace, which, all things considered, is probably somewhat safety-enhancing. Players rarely wear helmets, the horses' legs often have no bandages, and

mallets A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and propor ...

often have no grips or straps.

History

Tournament format and rules

See also

References

Further reading