Tent pegging or Neza Bazi is a cavalry sport of ancient origin. Used narrowly, the term refers to a specific mounted game with ground targets. More broadly, it refers to the entire class of mounted cavalry games involving pointed/edged weapons (lance and sword) on horseback, for which the term "equestrian skill-at arms" is also used. Cavaliers have practised the specific game of tent pegging since at least the 4th century BC, Asian and European empires spread the game around the world. As a result, the game's date and location of origin are ambiguous.
The specific game of tent pegging has a mounted horseman riding at a gallop and using a sword and/or a lance to pierce, pick up, and carry away a small ground target (a symbolic tent peg) or a series of small ground targets. The broader class of tent pegging games also includes ring jousting (in which a galloping rider tries to pass the point of his weapon through a suspended ring); lemon sticking (in which the rider tries to stab or slice a lemon suspended from a cord or sitting on a platform); quintain tilting (in which the rider charges a mannequin mounted on a swivelling or rocking pedestal); and mounted archery. A given tent pegging competition's rules specify the size and composition of the target; the number of consecutive targets placed on a course; the dimensions and weight of the sword and/or lance; the minimum time in which a course must be covered; and the extent to which a target must be struck, cut, or carried. It is played in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and some parts of Sindh and Balochistan, it is the unofficial provincial sport of Balochistan, Pakistan. There are many clubs who have owned different and unique style of Turban and Waistcoat to identify their clubs. People decorate their horses for the competition. Every club arranges a neza bazi competition. All clubs are invited to participate in the competition. There are some specific shows being arranged since many decades. National Horse and Cattle Show is one of them. It is held at the Fortress Stadium Lahore every year usually in end of February or at first week of March. Tent pegging is a part of this event. Clubs from all the districts of Pakistan participates there.
"When a sport disappears, it is like a language no longer spoken. When we revive a game, we revive a culture."
Khalil Ahmed Khan — President, ICTSG
