Sports

Gilgit-Baltistan Boycotts Shandur Polo Festival For The Third Time Since 2011

The Government of Gilgit-Baltistan has decided to withdraw its participation in Shandur Polo Festival 2016. This is the third time G-B Government has boycotted the world famous polo festival since. Gilgit-Baltistan did not participate in the event last year as well.

Published

8 years ago

July 3, 2016

Imran Ahmed Hunzai

The Government of Gilgit-Baltistan has decided to withdraw its participation in Shandur Polo Festival 2016. This is the third time G-B Government has boycotted the world-famous polo festival. Gilgit-Baltistan did not participate in the event last year as well.

The decision came after the governments of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa failed to build a consensus to organize the event jointly. According to Fida Khan, who represented Gilgit-Baltistan Government, KPK is trying to create a monopoly in the sport which is why arranging the event jointly could not be possible.

Talking to media in Islamabad, the lawmaker said:

“KP administration is deliberately escalating tension by illegally occupying the territory,”

he added:

“The GB government had decided to boycott the event when Chitral administration refused to host the event on equal basis.”

Earlier, G-B lawmaker Barkat Jamil, who is also the parliamentary secretary on tourism, had announced that Gilgit-Baltistan will participate in the event only if it has stakes in the festival.

A flyer used by KPK Government to promote the festival on social media.

Shandur Polo Festival - Chitral vs Gilgit

Another flyer used by KPK Government to promote the festival on social media.

The Shandur dispute goes unresolved for decades leading to indifference between the governments of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Lack of interest by federal government to help resolve the issue is creating hurdles in promotion of tourism and the game of polo itself. The dispute has also led to deployment of armed forces by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in Shandur which G-B thinks is illegal.

Talking to GBee, Shahid Raza, who has been traveling from Lahore to attend the event regularly since early 2000 said:

“It is quite unfortunate that Gilgit and Chitral are not being able to resolve the Shandur dispute. The federal government should step forward and take actions to resolve it. There should be no more bad politics and backdoor diplomacy.”

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will organize the event on 22th, 23rd, and 24th of July this year.

The Government of Gilgit-Baltistan is yet to announce a date for their version of the Shandur Polo Festival.

There will be no Chitral vs Gilgit matches which is the main attraction of the entire event.

Imran Ahmed Hunzai

Imran is a Digital Media professional and blogger based in Islamabad, Pakistan. When free, he likes to travel, do photography, and play Rabab. He also runs a HONY inspired blog called Humans of Hunza. He Tweets @imranhunzai.

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Watch Anita “The Arm Collector” Karim beat Marie Ruumet in ONE Warrior Series 10

Published

5 years ago

February 19, 2020

GBee Staff

Photo Credits: ONE Championship

Pakistani Mixed Martis Arts fighter Anita Karim was victorious in ONE Warrior Series 10 in a women’s atomweight category against Estonia’s Marie Ruumet. Watch Anita “The Arm Collector” Karim beat her Estonian opponent in a fight that she won unanimously.

Hunza

Anita Karim victorious in ONE Warrior Series 10 against Estonia’s Marie Ruumet

Published

5 years ago

February 19, 2020

Imran Ahmed Hunzai

Anita Karim victorious in ONE Warrior Series 10 against Estonia's Marie Ruumet

Photo Credits: ONE Championship

Pakistan’s first female MMA fighter Anita Karim was unanimously victorious against Estonia’s Marie Ruumet in ONE Warrior Series 10. One Warrior Series 10 was played on February 19 as part of the ONE Championship 2020 in Singapore.

Anita Karim, famously known as Anita “The Arm Collector” Karim, was competing in women’s atomweight category. She was representing Team Fight Fortress (TFF) as well as the Fairtex Gym. She was being coached by Uloomi Karim Shaheen, who himself is an MMA fighter.

Anita Karim started her career from the platform of The Fight Fortress Islamabad which was founded by MMA coaches from Gilgit-Baltistan.

She is one of the three Mixed Martia Arts fighters from Pakistan to compete in ONE Championship’s ONE Warrior Series 10.

Anitan Karim (Pakistan) vs Marie Ruumet (Estonia)

Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series (OWS) streamed its first live event in 2020 on February 19 where 15-Bout Card was set for the ONE Warrior Series 10.

The OWS 10 card will feature 15 match-ups as athletes from five continents aim to make a big impression and earn a contract to compete on the main ONE Championship roster.
There will be 13 competitors who will make their OWS debuts in Singapore, but the bill also features a host of familiar faces who will try to build on their previous success and make the leap to the global stage.
www.onefc.com/

The lineup for ONE Warrior Series 10

Byung Hee Lim vs. Kieran Joblin (mixed martial arts – lightweight)
Alan Philpott vs. Ahmed Faress (mixed martial arts – featherweight)
Min Hyuk Lee vs. Ryoji Kudo (mixed martial arts – featherweight)
Sasha Moisa vs. Shahzaib Rindh (kickboxing – featherweight)
Mehdi Bagheri vs. Koji Shikuwa (mixed martial arts – welterweight)
Michael Walker vs. Kanta Motoyama (kickboxing – flyweight)
Daniel Van Heerden vs. Arash Fairtex Mardani (mixed martial arts – 110-kilogram catch weight)
Marc Grayson vs. Rick Alchin (mixed martial arts – middleweight)
Adib Sulaiman vs. Susovan Ghosh (mixed martial arts – strawweight)
Marie Ruumet vs. Anita Fairtex Karim (mixed martial arts – women’s atomweight)
Myung Gu Kim vs. James Fairtex Bishop (mixed martial arts – bantamweight)
Joey Baylon vs. Manthan Rane (mixed martial arts – 60-kilogram catch weight)
Peter Danesoe vs. Irfan Ahmad (mixed martial arts – strawweight)
Saksit Janhom vs. Shammah Chandran (mixed martial arts – bantamweight)
Seung Hyun Cho vs. Rana Rudra Pratap Singh (mixed martial arts – flyweight)

Two other Pakistani MMA fighters played their matches as part of the ONE Warrior Series 10. Irfan “The Gorilla” Ahmad won his mixed martial arts match against Peter Danesoe in the strawweight category. Irfan Ahmad was representing Team Shaheen

Shahzaib Rindh, who was participating in his first professional international match was defeated by Ukraine’s Sasha Moisa.

The 21-year-old Shahzaib is a student of Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS). Pakistani MMA fighter Ahmed “The Wolverine” Mujtaba also studied from the same varsity.