THE much awaited 32nd Lohana Sports and Cultural Festival, jointly funded by East African Lohana Centres and hosted by Shree Lohana Mahajan Dar es Salaam will take place in Dar es Salaam during the Christmas holidays.

The event will start today and run through until the Boxing Day, confirmed the festival Public Relations Officer Subhash Modi. The first Festival took place in Kisumu during the Easter Holidays of 1974 under the founder members - DP Mandavia, Jayantbhai Badiani and Subhash Modi.

The Festival was hosted then by Kisumu Lohana Youth League. Teams from Mombasa, Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, Kampala, Mwanza and Dar es Salaam and few teams from overseas will participate in various sports.

They will battle it out for the top honours in Bridge, Darts (at Upanga Sports Club), Table Tennis (at Shree Jain Sangh), Badminton (at Badminton Institute, Khalsa Sports Club and Shishikunj), Volleyball (at Hanuman Vyamshala), Throwball (at Shree Lohana Mahajan), Cricket and Football (at Annadil Burhani Ground), Golf (at Dar Gymkhana/ Lugalo), Mini Marathon (venue to be announced) and Swimming Gala (at Funky Orbits Masaki.

According to Festival Secretary General, Manish Rughani (from Dar es Salaam) the Annual General Meeting will also take place during the festival. Pre-festival briefing meeting will take place tomorrow night at the Aga Khan Diamond jubilee Hall, confirmed festival Secretary General, Manish Rughani. All the centres have been busy preparing for the festival.