PESHAWAR: The traditional archery provincial competition of Mukha concluded in Mardan with a team from Buner district emerging as the winner.
In the final played at the hujra of late mukhwal (archer) Amir Shah Baba in Shamozai village in Katlang tehsil, the village team of Bazaragai defeated the Pak Kaya team from Swabi district by two points.
The neck-and-neck contest was decided when Aziz Ahmad from Bazargai hit the target in his last attempt.
The two teams had reached the final after defeating their rivals from Shamozai village in Mardan district and Giraray village in Buner.
A total of 20 teams from Mardan, Swabi, Buner and Attock districts took part in the tournament that continued for 21 days. It was the first time that a team from Jhang Bahtar village in Punjab’s Attock district competed in the tournament.
The winning and runner-up teams and the best players of the tournament and the final were awarded shields and cash prizes.
The Provincial Yousafzai Amn Mukha Tournament is being organized regularly every spring in Shamozai village for the last 20 years.
Its theme is promotion of peace through healthy and traditional sports activities. This year the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) again sponsored the tournament.
It was joined by the Directorate General of Sports, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to support the holding of the tournament.
Mukha, or Makha as it is known in Swabi district, is an indigenous and traditional form of archery still played in the old style. Village teams compete against each other and villagers enthusiastically support their respective teams.
The speakers at the final included District Nazim Mardan, Ihtisham Khan, PTI MPA Malik Shaukat and senior journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai who as patron-in-chief of the Yousafzai Mukha Organization Mardan has been organizing the tournament for the past two decades. The organization’s president Amjad Hussain Yousafzai also spoke on the occasion. The District Nazim and lawmaker Malik Shaukat announced cash donation of Rs100,000 each for the organizers of the tournament.
The speakers stressed the need for popularizing and promoting Mukha as it was a traditional and indigenous sport and had the capacity to bring people together through healthy competition. They said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had earmarked funds for promotion of indigenous games, including Mukha.
