Snow Kabbadi Championship held in Kalam

MINGORA: The local people in Kalam valley on Sunday organised the first “Snow Kabbadi Championship” in which eight teams participated.

A local organisation arranged the event at the Shahi Ground in Kalam. The teams Snow Leopards, Snow Tigers, Markhur and Young Challengers participated in the event. In the freezing cold of Kalam, the “Snow Kabbadi Championship” was witnessed by a huge number of tourists from across the country.

"This is the first time that I have seen snowfall and above all the snow kabaddi in this freezing valley. The snow-covered mountains and the natural landscape in not less than a paradise on earth," said Dr Haseeb Warraich, a tourist from Islamabad. Another tourist from Gujjar Khan, Adnan Munnawar said that the beauty of Kalam was matchless. "It was minus 16 degree centigrade last night here in Kalam. It has been snowing continuously. The event has attracted tourists from the whole country," he said, adding that he could not believe that in the freezing cold the players were playing snow kabbadi.

Another tourist from Islamabad, Dr Shabbir Hussain asked the provincial government to sponsor such events in Kalam valley to promote tourism in the area. He said that Kalam was more beautiful than Switzerland. The organiser of the event Aziz Kalami told this scribe that the purpose behind organising the event was to promote tourism and business activities in the hill station.

"Ice hockey, snow boating and other snow related games are common in the world. This is our indigenous game and the government must come forward to promote it," he said, adding that the foreign tourists would love to watch and play this game.