Horse Polo match played after decades in Gurez

Srinagar: Horse Polo revived after several decades at the frontier Gurez sector in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir Saturday as the Tourism Department organised a grand festival at the offbeat tourist destination.

The ‘Grand Gurez’ festival was organised by the Department of Tourism in collaboration with Bandipora district administration and the J-K Academy of Art Culture and Languages, an official spokesman said.

The festival was organised to celebrate the recently awarded best offbeat tourist destination of India and to enhance and promote tourism to the virgin valley, he said.

The major attraction of the day-long festival was a Horse Polo match which was played between two teams of local youth, the spokesman said.

He said the elders in the area said it was after around six decades that they have seen a Polo match being played in Gurez again.

Another special feature of the festival was holding many adventure and water sports activities like rafting, kayaking, cycling, mountain biking, and trekking besides a spectacular show of All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) for the first time in Gurez, the spokesman said.

Speaking on the occasion, Director Tourism, G N Itoo said the Tourism Department has been promoting Gurez through a sustained and coordinated mechanism for the last two years which yielded results recently in the destination being awarded as the best offbeat tourist spot in the country by a national publication.