Youth Festival: Donkeys take stage ahead of games

LAHORE: A ‘beauty contest’ among donkeys was held on Friday in Defence as part of the Punjab Youth Festival. MPA Mian Naseer was the chief guest. MPA Yasmin Sohal was also present and gave prizes to the owners of winning donkeys. Donkey Nashaee Times owned by Chaudhary Jabbar won the beauty contest. As many as 30 animals wearing glitter and colourful ‘clothes’ were paraded. Chotay Bantu of Mian Kashif was runner-up and Sher-i-Lahore of Sakhi Muhammad was third. Donkeys also competed in a cart race from Defence to Walton bus stop. Sher-i-Lahore won the race, followed by Wehshi Haseena of Arshad Ali. Reema owned by Muhammad Javed took the third position. Speaking on the occasion, Mian Naseer said the government had given opportunities to the general public to excel in various fields during the festival. “The festival not only promotes all kind of events but also gives new face to traditional sports,” he said. The athletics competition between special people continued on Friday at Punjab Stadium. In men’s blind race, Zahid Mahmood stood first. In the girls’ category, Huma Ashraf was the winner. The event attracted special children from education centres from Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur, and Kahna. Children took part in 100-metre race and Shahzad Maqbool of Sharakpur was declared winner while Muhammad Bilal of Iqbal Town was placed second and Zaheer was third. In girls’ category, Huma Ashraf was the winner of top honour while Rabia Islam of Government College University took the second position and Saima of Sangla Hills was third. In the boys’ blind 100-metre race, Zahid Mahmood of Johar Town took the first position, Abdul Shakoor of GCU was declared second while the Punjab University’s Ziauddin was third. In the wheelchair race, Fahd Ishaq took the first position, Faisal Murtaza was second and Nawaz Rashid was third. Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.