MINGORA: The three-day Winter Sports Festival 2020 kicked off at the scenic tourist resort of Malam Jabba in Swat valley on Friday.
Organised by the Tourism Corporation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (TCKP) in collaboration in collaboration with the Swat district administration and other partners from private sector, the festival was formally inaugurated with ski competitions.
Foreign and local tourists and visitors have thronged the serene resort to enjoy the winter games at the scenic Malam Jabba. The festival is featuring a number of winter sports games including skiing, speed skating, ice hockey, sledding and tobogganing, archery, curling, snow-tubing, music show, food, display of handicrafts and others.
On the first day, ski competitions were held for under-15 boys and girls in which many players participated. Competitions of speed skating, ice hockey, sledding and tobogganing, archery, curling, snow-tubing, display of handicrafts and others are also part of the gala.
The organisers have also made arrangements for traditional foods and music to entertain the participants and visitors. Malam Jabba is the only civil skiing resort in Pakistan at about 8500 feet above the sea level.
The organisers said that the sports extravaganza was aimed at reviving the scenic places, rehabilitating the archaeological and heritage sites and provision of missing facilities to boost tourism in the province to attract tourists and visitors to the serene spots.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been gifted with abundant natural beauty of lush green valleys, snow-capped mountains, deserts, rivers, landscapes, rich cultural and traditional heritage and history, springs, streams and serene spots.
It is, on the one hand, blessed with a vast mineral and agricultural reserves and resources while the plentiful natural beauty and magnificent splendour is one of its other characteristics the province possessing.