KARACHI: Two wrestlers strain and pull under the harsh glare of the sun, their feet digging into the dusty earth of the football ground. They grunt and twist, trying to unsettle the other and claim victory as hundreds watch with eager anticipation around them.
Scenes like this are typical at a malakhra contest, an ancient and traditional form of wrestling popular in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province. A malakhra showdown begins with both wrestlers, or “pehlwans” as they are known in Urdu, securing a twisted cloth known as a lungi around their opponent’s waist.
The wrestlers use the cloth to throw their opponent to the ground through strength and technique. The wrestler who falls to the ground loses the contest.
The traditional sport is believed to have originated in the ancient city of Mohenjo-Daro thousands of years ago. However, in a country where cricket dominates national passion, wrestlers often complain that malakhra receives little attention.
“This is the only game that has no stadiums, no academies,” Ghulam Nabi Sheedi, a former wrestler and general secretary of the Sindh Malakhra Association, told Arab News on the sidelines of a three-day tournament in Karachi this week.
