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Since time immemorial, games have been invented by people as they had too much free time in their hands, but who would have thought horses and people running after a small ball would be such a good idea??
Happened on 25th August 1957
When you think of polo, a small mint with a hole comes to mind, but Polo, unless not mentioned in your 3rd-grade general knowledge book, is a sport played by the royals in the olden days of the British colonial era and before. Since then, Polo has been changed as a sport, but India has its own niche fanbase, as around 33 clubs in the country still operate and organize tournaments where even the Indian army is involved.
During the 1900s, the Polo scene was dominated by the Indian royals mixed with the Europeans. Not really the common man's sport, due to which it still struggles to find a wide fanbase, Polo fans have extra dedication to make up for it.
The sport itself is played on a large field, about three times as large as a football field! As the field is large enough, horses are used to traverse around the field, while a small ball goes around the field being shot by bats. A normal game of Polo lasts under an hour. It is intense, fast-paced where the spectator can simply have fun watching even though uneducated about the sport itself.
India's dominance was not long-lived, as Post World War 2, the game changed and India failed to really settle itself as a good team in the world. That is, until a team of Major Kishen Singh, Kr Bijay Singh, Rao Raja Hanut Singh and Maharaja Sawai Man Singh of Jaipur did the inevitable and won the 1957 World Championships in France. Efforts had already been made by the Indian Polo Association before to encourage the sport by inviting famous worldwide teams from Argentina and Britain. This win would be huge exposure for the sport itself, as the Indian team had beaten the best of the best in Polo.
Since then, Polo has been taken up by the Indian Army and has grown into a much-deserved sport in terms of its exposure and as a leisure sport. Major tournaments such as "The President's Cup" are often held at Jaipur, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai.
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