Over 29,000 children form human flag to set record

Defying heavy downpour and chilly hailstorm, more than 29,000 schoolchildren formed a human national flag to set a new world record for Pakistan at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore, eclipsing the existing record set by 27,117 Bangladeshis last year.

Youths gather together to form the biggest national flag ever shaped by people, at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore. — AFP

The record was made at the second attempt. Soon after completing the flag at the first attempt, the children hurled their green and white cards in celebration, believing that they had achieved the target.

But since officials of the Guinness World Record had yet to count the number of children, another attempt had to be made.

Inclement weather worried the Punjab sports minister and other organisers as no arrangement had been made to hold the event under rain and hailstorm. Although Lahore has been experiencing cloudy and rainy weather since Friday, the Punjab Sports Board had taken no step to deal with the vagaries of the weather.

Speaking on the occasion, MNA Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, elder son of Punjab chief minister, said the Punjab government would set a sports endowment fund with an initial amount of Rs2 billion.

Some schoolchildren were reportedly injured while pushing each other. The children had been brought from Lahore and adjoining cities in the morning in hundreds of hired buses. They complained to the media that they were asked to report to their schools early morning but had to wait till late night for the ceremony to conclude and let them return. The arrangement for provision of food was extremely lacking.

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