From traditional to modern, sports for all at Punjabi fest

The annual Punjabi Sports Festival is as much about the recreational activities that the Punjabi region of India and Pakistan is known for, as it is about the ones that have increased in popularity of late.

So on Sunday at Falcon Park in Palatine there was kokla shapaki, a team game of hide and seek, as well as rasa kushi, a tug of war.

But probably the most popular event was volleyball, with the largest number of participants of the festival's six outdoor sporting contests.

No matter what the athletes are playing or the spectators are watching, the festival is a good opportunity to socialize, said Mohinderjit Singh Saini, a member of the board of governors of the Punjabi Cultural Society of Chicago, which organizes the festival.

Some 500 people came to the event, now in its 21st year. It has been held in Palatine the last three years.

Participants also danced the bhangra, the traditional Punjabi folk dance common at festivals and weddings. But Saini says it can also be an aerobic dance.

"If you do the bhangra, you don't have to go to the YMCA," he joked.

Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Dan Patlak and his wife were at the fest's opening ceremonies, where they participated in bhangra dancing.

One sport not at this year's festival was kabaddi, a team sport of tag that is so popular there are separate festivals just for it, Saini said.

A number of club teams are expected to participate in a kabaddi tournament next month at a local forest preserve.