18/10/2021

Tent pegging in the UK: 'In neza bazi, anything can happen'

Sohail Hussain is one of a growing number of young, British Asians who have taken up tent pegging. The ancient cavalry sport, also know as neza bazi, has been practised in south Asian countries for centuries and involves horseback riders galloping across fields with spears, attempting to pick pegs out of the ground.

The Guardian follows Hussain and his equestrian team, the Pathwar Haidri tent pegging club, as they host their first competition in the quiet market town of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and discovers a community obsessed with horses and the 'adrenaline rush 'of the sport.

Despite tent pegging's growing popularity in the UK, Hussain says he has experienced discrimination from people who are intimidated by men like him playing an unfamiliar sport

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