‘King of polo’ nominated for award

CHITRAL: The people from Upper and Lower Chitral have hailed the nomination of the king of polo Shahzada Sikandarul Mulk for the President’s Award for Pride of Performance.

Associated with freestyle polo since his childhood, Shahzada Sikandar is popularly known as King of Polo in Chitral.

Playing freestyle polo for the last 30 years, Sikandar has made Chitral Polo team undefeatable against its arch-rival Gilgit-Baltistan, recording eight consecutive wins of the Shandur Polo Cup.

“Polo is in my blood and I can’t live without this game,” he would tell the foreign and domestic media after winning the Shandur polo cup, at the world’s highest polo ground.

Recognizing his dedication to the sport, he was finally nominated for the prestigious award this time. Besides polo, Shahzada Sikandar is also known as a social worker and political leader.

“When the news of this national award reached Sikandar today he was at an altitude of 14600 ft along with 15 able-bodied men, less than half his age, from his village Mastuj. He has gone there to divert glacial water from its useless path into a path which, if he succeeds, will bring relief to his water-starved village,” tweets his elder brother Shahzada Sirajul Mulk. “A well-deserved award,” said many messages on Facebook.