sports of chitral.

Sports of chitral.
Polo is the most popular sport of Chitral. It holds similar importance amongst the Chitral & Gilgit populations. Polo matches are great attractions and festive occasions for all tourists. Even if you do'nt have a knack for this game you'll surely love the atmosphere it creates. A regular Polo tournament (Shandur Polo Tournament) is held every year (First week of July) at Shandur Pass.Polo is a team sport played on horseback where the aim is to score goals against your opponents. Riders score by driving a ball into the opposing team's goal using a long-handled mallet. Goals are only valid if the scoring rider is mounted. When played outdoors, each Polo team fields a team of four riders and their mounts. In the indoor variant ("Arena Polo"), each team fields only 3 players. In both versions of the sport, play occurs in seven-minute periods, called chukkers. Six chukkers is considered the norm, but depending on league rules, matches can also have four or eight chukkers.

The word "polo" is Balti for "ball". Polo was probably developed first in Skardu (Baltistan), Ladakh (northern Pakistan), the Kargil area of India, and in a few places of Tibet and Nepal. The earliest evidence of polo is found in a 4000-4500 year-old Balti story named 'Hilafoo Kaisaar'. In northern Pakistan, where Polo is still played in its original form (free-style), a local variant is called Chogan.
It is indeed a wonderful tourist attraction!