The pain and gain in the Afghan game of buzkashi
Al Jazeera
The heart of Afghan identity, the sport has evolved from rough rural pastime to a professionalised phenomenon.
Afghan rider Sarwar Pahlawan blinked away pain from the new stitches between his eyes as his buzkashi team chased tournament victory. The ancient sport is still steeped in risk but now offers modern-day rewards.
Played for centuries on the country’s northern steppe, the national sport, sitting at the heart of Afghan identity, has evolved from a rough rural pastime to a professionalised phenomenon, flush with cash.
“The game has changed completely,” the horseman, soon to turn 40, said after returning home victorious from the tournament final in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif earlier this month.
After 20 years as a buzkashi rider, or “chapandaz”, Sarwar welcomes the changes to the game, which is played across Central Asia and features elements akin to polo and rugby.
“They used to pay us with rice, oil, a carpet or a cow,” he said, but today the chapandaz have professional contracts.
