
The dust of the city coated everything – the flags, the crisp new doboks, the hopeful faces of fathers shepherding their children. After 18 years, this was Karachi’s welcome: not a red carpet, but a gritty testament. The National Games had come home. The city, in its quintessential fashion, demanded a pilgrimage. For the first Games on its soil after 18 years, it offered an obstacle course of its own making – cranes standing like sentinels over diverted roads that formed labyrinths of progress. But through the grit and the detours, they came. A river of colour, athletes from every corner of the country in their distinct tracksuits, and locals converging on the National Stadium. They arrived not for a mere ceremony, but in spite of the journey. “I am almost covered in this dust,” a father told Dawn, guiding his young son in a taekwondo dobok toward the gates. “But we are glad. We are here.” Flags of various participating contingents seen during the opening ceremony of National Games in Karachi on Saturday. — T...