Rawalpindi team lifts trophy of Mukha tournament

PESHAWAR: The Rawalpindi team lifted the trophy of first Rahimullah Yusufzai (late) traditional Mukha (archery) tournament held in Katlang of Mardan district.

The Rawalpindi team defeated the Attock team in the thrilling final match by a slight margin of two points.

As many as 19 teams from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab participated in the tournament, which was named after senior journalist and renowned social worker late Rahimullah Yusufzai.

Rahimullah Yusufzai used to promote and participate in the tournament of the Mukha, a traditional Pashtun version of archery, mainly played in Buner, Swabi and Mardan districts and in some parts of Haripur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and that was why the tournament was named after him to pay him tribute.

The tournament was organized by the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) in collaboration with the Directorate of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Chairman of District Development Advisory Committee (DDSC) Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Malik Shaukat Khan was the chief guest on the occasion and distributed trophies among the winning and runner-up teams.

Director General Sports and Culture Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khalid Khan, Deputy Commissioner Mardan Habibullah Arif, Deputy Director Sports Jamshed Baloch, Regional Sports Officer Naimatullah Khan spoke on the occasion.

Malik Shaukat said the provincial government was promoting traditional games.

He paid rich tributes to Rahimullah Yusufzai for his services for the people of his native area in particular and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan in general.

He said that Rahimullah Yusufzai tried to help and support all and sundry, particularly the needy people financially and was a social worker who always tries his best to help and reach out to the poor segment of the society.

“He was a kind and soft-spoken person who would listen to everyone and deal with them politely and try to solve their issues,” he added.

He said Rahimullah Yusufzai would always be remembered for his services.

He appreciated the organizers, particularly Amjad Yusufzai and his colleagues for organizing and naming Mukha tournament after Rahimullah Yusufzai and assured his government support for organizing the tournament regularly. He announced dedicating 18 kanal of land for Mukha ground in Chapalabad in Shamozai in Katlang.

The winning team was given Rs70,000 and runners up Rs40,000 and Rs100,000 for the organizing committee.