ARC Polo

ARC POLO

POLO IN INDIA
(Lt. Col. TS Pandher, Retd)

Polo in simple terms can be called mounted Hockey. It is played four –a-side mounted on horses though they are called ponies – Polo ponies. A polo pony is a regular horse who is well trained, obedient, agile, fast and handy who will move in any direction and speed according to the wishes of the rider. The ability to do so makes the difference between a good pony and a bad pony. A good player needs to have a string of good polo ponies .

Polo is a medieval sport and is said to be the game of Kings and has originated somewhere in Central Asia and has been played by King Darius, Alexander the Great, Chengiz khan and Emperor Akbar. It was known as “chaughan” in those days and the slave king Qutub-ud-din Abbeck is said to have died while playing Chaughan sometimes in the eleventh century. Polo almost disappeared from India after the fall of the Mughal Empire but survived in such remote areas as Gilgit and Manipur.

Polo was revived in India by the British Army and the Tea planters. The first Polo club, the Silchar Polo club was established in eastern India in 1861 by Lt. Joe Shearer posted as Deputy Commissioner of the Cachar hills. From here, the game spread to the rest of the world and it was in Argentina that the game prospered because of abundance of horses. The game had its ups and downs in India over the next 30 years till the Indian Royalty took to Polo in a big way and some great teams emerged in the next few decades. Patiala, Jodhpur, Alwar, Jaipur, Kishangarh , Bikaner, Coochbihar , Kashmir and Hyderabad were some of the leading teams of the era which lasted for variable periods upto the Second World War. The British Officers in the Army were a dedicated lot at that time. Capt. H de Lisle of Durham Light Infantry and Capt. RL Ricketts of Hodson’s Horse were brilliant exponents of Polo training during the period. Regular tournaments were played at Amballa and Meerut and in the words of Sir Winston Churchill “ ……… and thus freed from the mundane cares, devoted ourselves to the serious purpose of life – Polo “

Some legendary figures of Indian Polo were Gen. Chanda Singh & Col. Heera Singh of Patiala, Maj. Shah Mirza Baig of Hyderabad , Rao Raja Hanut Singh of Jodhpur, Sawai Mansingh of Jaipur, and Col. Maharaj Prem Singh of Jodhpur. The high point of Indian Polo was in 1954 when the Indian team comprising of Major Thakur Kishan Singh, Rao Raja Hanut Singh, Kr. Bijay Singh and Sawai Mansingh won the World Cup at Deauville, France. After almost 50 years, Indian Polo is again making serious efforts in 2003 to reach nearer to that objective.

During this time, somewhere in 1942, riding was getting a foothold in Mumbai. The Amateur Riders Club was in the throes of its birth. It made a very modest beginning with 4 horses which were permitted to be stabled at the Govenor’s Bodyguards stables where the Regional Transport Office is presently situated at Tardeo. Later, HH Maharaja Sir Jiwarjirao Scindia of Gwalior offered stables to the club horses at their property at Worli. The club shifted to its present location in 1972.

The Indian Army, sort of took over Indian Polo in 1960 with the passing out of some young cadets from the NDA who would dominate the polo scene for the next two decades. Major Thakur Kishan Singh alongwith three youngsters HS (Billy) Sodhi, Pradeep Mehra and VP Singh created history by winning the IPA Championship for the first time in 1961. The other notable army players of this time were Lt. Col. Farouk Bijay, Maj. Generals Bheem Suhag, Kaka Sandhu Mao Shergil, Colonels Raj Kalaan, Pickles Sodhi, Rupi Brar, Kuldip Garcha, and Maj. Musty Sekhon. But the game of polo is not only comprised of the above shining stars, it comprises of scores of others who like the horse and the game and spend a lot of hours learning and then enjoying the pleasures of the game. I know of such a dedicated player who would leave the examination hall early during his promotion test so that he is not late for the polo practice. As if he can appear for the examination next year but can’t play polo again.

The Army, no longer holds sway in Indian Polo these days but the current heroes are the army progeny. The Godara brothers, Manupal and Dhruvpal, Angad and Uday Kalaans, Sameer Suhag, Vishal Singh, are sons of Army officers and all have learnt with the army. The only civilian connection has been Lokendra Singh who incidentally was the first Indian Polo professional representing Mewar team.

By the eighties, the royalty was back. Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur who himself played in late seventies assembled his Mewar string of horses with Lokendra Singh spearheading his team. Rajesh Sehgal, Vikram Sodhi and Vikramaditya(Kahsmir) played in a team called the ‘civil invasion’ All of them have their own teams now. Bikky Oberoi and Ajay Piramal combined to field their teams which in Mumbai played as Piramal and the other centres as Oberoi teams. Navin Jindal fields his own Jindal Steel & Power. Jodhpur under HH Gaj Singh fields their team and it is coming up as an important center for professional polo. Karan Thapar fields a team in Delhi. The Syed brothers Shamsheer & Bashir Ali from Hyderabad have made their mark. During this time, the Army was represented by its leading players, Col. Bhawani Singh, JS(Pinka) Virk, Prem Sirohi. The Indian Navy is making its entry into Indian Polo.

Major Centres

Traditionally Delhi has been the nerve centre of Indian Polo. With corporatisation of polo and polo teams, Delhi’s Jaipur Polo ground in the Race course draws the cream of players. Calcutta Polo club once an another important centre, its glory is fading and is indeed sustained by the army who send their teams there regularly. Civilian clubs find it too distant.

Jaipur has a well developed Polo base because of the Jaipur Royal house and also the location of the 61st Cavalry, the only horsed Cavalry in Asia. Besides the Ram Bagh Palace and the Cavalry grounds, another complex came up at Ramgarh and Col. Kuldeep Garcha has his own Polo club with a polo ground at Khatipura. The Jaipur sandy soil favours a round the year season. Infact the Jaipur, Jodhpur and Delhi triangle is the favourite visiting place of Indian Polo professionals.

Madras Polo has been developed by the efforts of Mr. Ashwin Muthiah of Spic during the seventies and eighties when it saw a decline. Mr. M V Prakash of the MPRC groomed his sons Buchi and Ashok and other youngster Ranjit Jesudas to keep Madras Polo going.

In Mumbai, Col. Maharaj Prem Singh and Mr. Hansraj Mariwala were instrumental in laying the foundation of Polo in the seventies at the Amateur Riders’ Club at Mahalaxmi. They spent good deal of time to train young polo players in the club. Mr. Ajay Piramal made consistent efforts to bring high goal players to raise the polo standard. The drawback of ARC ground is its inundation under water during the monsoon, which delays the preparation of ground not before November. The ARC has been regularly conducting Polo Tournaments, Horse Show annually during March/April and has been a gelling point between NDA Pune, Ahmednagar and Nasik. The Army Supports these games in a big way.

In Hyderabad, the Andhra Pradesh Riding Club has been in the forefront and has been keeping Polo alive with the help of the army. Hyderabad has 2 to 3 weeks annual Polo during September each year.

Bangalore is fast coming up as an important polo and equestrian centre in South India. Lt. Gen. Jagdish Chander, the DGST, Army Headquarters has been instrumental in developing its infrastructure in the last three years.

Organisation of Polo

Indian Polo Association is a central body which has an executive Committee elected by the member Clubs which looks after the affairs of Polo in the Country and outside. There are about twenty six polo Clubs in the Country. The IPA offices are located at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Commandant of the President’s Bodyguard by tradition acts as Hon Secretary of the IPA. Col Bhawani Singh ex-61 Cav., very good polo player himself is the present Hon. Secretary of the IPA.

Polo is played at various Centres and these are categorized into A and B Centres depending on the popularity and the level of Polo played at these centres. Delhi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bangalore and Mumbai are ‘A’ grade centre whereas Chennai, Hyderabad, Meerut, Dehra Dun and Kolakatta are ‘B’ grade centres. The particular clubs located at these centres organise Tournaments there.

Grading of tournament

Polo Tournaments are based on handicaps, meaning that in a 10 goal tournament the aggregate of the individual handicaps of four players should not exceed 10. Tournaments are played from 2 to 14 goals and are graded as low handicapped (2 to 6) ,medium from 8 to 12 handicaps. 14 goals and above tournaments are graded as high handicap tournaments. A world cup tournament is played at a handicap of 14 goals and the next World Cup is due in Paris, France in September 2004 for which the Indian probables have just concluded their two and a half month training camp in Argentina and England.

Grading of players

The Polo players are handicapped from –2 to +10 . A beginner starts at –2. Indian Polo Association details a handicapping committee which approves and fixes handicaps of all players based on recommendation of the polo clubs and the zonal stewards of that area every year which are published in the Annual Handicap list. There are 272 polo players registered with the IPA.

Rao Raja Hanut Singh and Maharaja Sawai Jaisingh of Jaipur were graded at +9. Earlier Gen. Chanda Singh of Patiala was rated at 10 in early part of the century. Brig. VP Singh has been the highest handicapped army player at + 7 after 1947. There are about 26 players handicapped upto +4 in India currently.

Polo ponies are unfortunately not graded. But a polo enthusiast knows the perils of playing some of the ponies. Also there are beauties who will check just with the contact of the rein and shifting of weight and whose ride is as if you were sitting on a sofa. Many centres hold competitions, to adjudge the Best Polo ponies of the tournament or the year. Good horses deserve good and kind hands during their training period and good care through out.