Sahni village in Phagwara keeps tradition of ‘Khed Mela’ alive

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 28

Guru Tegh Bahadur sports club has been organising ‘Khed Mela’ at Sahni village in Phagwara for the past 50 years.

Satnam Sahni, a farmer by profession, is also a member of the club. He said, “In memory of Chaar Sahibzaade, we organise events in December every year. So, our village elders started organising football and kabaddi matches on the occasion. The idea of organising these matches is to involve youngsters of the village in sports and keep them away from ill-practices.”

Club members said earlier, they faced difficulties in organising matches due to lack of funds and sources. They said now, NRIs of the village also help them organise football and kabaddi matches.

The members said these matches were being held continuously for the past many years.

In football, matches are held in an open category. Besides, there is a special category for football clubs. Sahni said they would now get the club registered with the Punjab Football Association.

Sahni added that Phagwara and Mahilpur in Hoshiarpur had given many football players at national and international level.

“The winning football team gets Rs41,000 as a cash award and the runners up gets Rs31,000. The winning team in Kabaddi gets Rs71,000. An amount of Rs61,000 is awarded to the runners up team,” added Sahni.