This may sound like a sweeping statement but facts and figures prove that the grand old sports of Polo is dying in the highlands of Chitral. 50 years back, the Chitrali polo team was defeated by the polo team of Gilgat at Shandur polo ground in 1959 by 9 goals to zero. At that time, we had 69 polo grounds in Chitral and 600 polo players were active in the game. Then it was the game of masses and countless people from middle and lower middle class used to play polo. After 50 years in 2009, the Chitrali team defeated Gilgat by a margin of 10-2 at Shandur but the game is no longer being played by the middle and lower middle class in Chitral. We have lost 55 polo grounds in the district. 50 years down the road we have only 14 polo grounds in the district. The number of polo players has decreased to 160 horsemen, out of whom 110 belong to Chitral Scouts and Chitral Police. This is because the cost of purchasing and keeping a horse in today's market economy has become too high to be borne by an ordinary citizen. In case Chitral Scouts and Chitral Police give up their interest in the game of polo, there will be no polo at all here. Guess how many people breed horses, make saddles, reigns, sticks and balls in Chitral today? None. -BASHIR HUSSAIN AZAD, Chitral, via e-mail, July 21.