Want equal respect': Pakistan's females galloping to glory in tent pegging

Anum Shakoor, a 30-year-old rider near Rawalpindi, competes in tent pegging, a high-stakes equestrian sport where riders gallop across fields to pierce a buried wooden target with a lance. On a cold January morning, she charges, lowers her lance, and misses by about 2.5 cm, prompting a gasp from the crowd. The event takes place in windswept fields with thousands of male spectators, many wearing turbans and carrying drums, reflecting pride in an ancient tradition passed through generations. Some spectators and elites show reluctance toward women participating in an overwhelmingly male sport. The competition is held as a mela, with drums and shehnai music creating a carnival-like atmosphere.

"On a cold January morning, Anum Shakoor gallops across a field, wrapped in a black shawl that billows behind her as she charges forward, a 1.8-metre (6ft) lance gripped tightly in her hand. The 30-year-old has already claimed her first peg. The second lies close ahead. Her horse tears across the dry earth, kicking up a cloud of dust that hangs in the air as she charges forward. A few metres out, Shakoor lowers the lance, steadying her aim and bracing for impact."

"She misses by 2.5cm (1 inch). A collective gasp ripples through the crowded bleachers. Many onlookers shake their heads. Some look away. Shakoor exhales and slows her horse to a walk. Around her are the desolate, windswept fields on the outskirts of Rawalpindi in northern Punjab province. And there are men, most of them wearing turbans. Men with dhol (drums) hanging from their necks."

"The field is lined with thousands of male spectators, gathered to watch the teams of riders charging one after the other at a small wooden peg buried in the ground, trying to pierce it cleanly and carry it forward on their lance. The event is known as a mela in Punjabi, a carnival-like competition typically held on the outskirts of the garrison city. The beat of drums intertwined with the sharp bursts of the shehnai (oboe), traditionally played in weddings, pierce"

"The men who take pride in the ancient sport, some of whom perhaps are not ready to accept that women are now participating in an overwhelmingly male neza baazi, or tent pegging, a high-stakes sport in which horse riders gallop across a field to pierce a buried wooden target. Local political and feudal elites seen wearing traditional turbans at a tent pegging event near Rawalpindi"

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