KUNDUZ - An ancient regional type of wrestling and body building is being revised in northern Afghanistan, where the Kunduz Zurkhaneh Sports Federation was established with support from the Afghan Olympic Committee.

“Zurkhaneh is an ancient sport of our nations. Now it became as an international sport. Therefore we want to rehabilitate it and extend it in Kunduz,” said Kunduz Governor Mohammad Anwar Jegdalak, who is also the chief of the newly established Asian Division of Zurkhaneh Sports Federation.

Literally translated as “House of Strength” in Farsi, Zurkhaneh involves a series of formal strength exercises carried out to the rhythm of a drum.

The sport is also associated with a philosophy that extends to chivalrous behavior, including truthful and good temperament, which is said to empower the mind and body.

“Many countries have acknowledged that Zurkhaneh sports can play in a country’s social, well being and cultural development,” said Mahboobullah Mahboob, the head of the Kunduz Provincial Council, and head of the Kunduz chapter of Zorkhaneh Sports Federation.

The ceremony in Kunduz on Tuesday, financially supported by Kam Air Airlines, was attended by local officials, representatives of the Olympic National Committee, youth, elders and the Tajikistan consular in Kunduz.

Suliaman Abdul Wahid, the head of Tajikistan Zurkhaneh Sports Federation, praised Afghan players for placing in a recent regional competition, “Afghan players could beat most of countries in the competition. They took third place in Bangladesh among twenty countries.”

By UNAMA Kunduz