LAHORE: The Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), along with local businessmen, traders and wrestlers, will organise ‘Shahi (Royal) Dangal’ at Mochi Gate Park inside Lahore on Sunday (today).

Famous wrestlers of the country will participate in the Shahi Dangal, said WCLA on Saturday. In the matches to be held on Sunday, Malu will face Mohsin Mochi (Rustam Gujra) while Heera Baloch will take on Umar (Jardanwala).

Moreover, Goonga will wrestle against Qazi Mehboob from Multan; Arshad Pathan will take on Usman Tobewala (Rustam Toba Tek Singh); Mamay will wrestle against Abdul Rehman from Gujranwala; Rashid Gujjar will face Qurban Kahanahwala; and Mithu Pehlwan will face Wasim Gadhi. Apart from this, there will be a muscle boat competition and an open boat competition on this occasion.

As per the local custom, a day before the competition, the wrestlers would be introduced while a procession would be taken out in chariots.

Dangal (subcontinent-style wrestling competition) is an old traditional sport that was popular among the masses. There were 600 akharas, a place of practice for wrestling, in Lahore and the popularity of this game can be judged by this fact. Once a popular sport in Punjab, said the WLCA, almost 20 years ago this traditional wrestling vanished from old Lahore and moved to other places in Punjab. The Authority is now reviving this popular sport and wrestling arena.

Commenting on the revival of the traditional support, WCLA Director General Kamran Lashari said that the arenas are the landmark of old Lahore, the authority is paying full attention to this sport and after a long period, these arenas are being repopulated with the support and interest of local businessmen.

“The Walled City Authority will continue to work to preserve the culture of the city of Lahore and this will be a yearly event,” he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022