Riders and their mounts during a polo match

The 7th Manipur Polo International Match during the Manipur Sangai Festival 2013 at the Historic Polo Ground also called as the Mapal Kangjeibung.

The modern game of polo, though formalised and popularised by the British, is derived from Manipur (now a state in India) where the game was known as 'Sagol Kangjei', 'Kanjai-bazee', or 'Pulu'. It was the anglicised form of the last, referring to the wooden ball that was used, which was adopted by the sport in its slow spread to the west. The first polo club was established in the town of Silchar in Assam, India, in 1834.There is also a polo ground in chooto jalanga (irongmara/dwarbond).

The origins of the game in Manipur are traced to early precursors of Sagol Kangjei. This was one of three forms of hockey in Manipur, the other ones being field hockey (called Khong Kangjei) and wrestling-hockey (called Mukna Kangjei).

Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a long-handled mallet. The traditional sport of polo is played at speed on a large grass field up to 300 yards long by 160 yards wide, and each polo team consists of four riders and their mounts. Field polo is played with a solid plastic ball, which has replaced the wooden ball in much of the sport. In arena polo, only three players are required per team and the game usually involves more maneuvering and shorter plays at lower speeds due to space limitations of the arena. Arena polo is played with a small air-filled ball, similar to a small soccer ball. The modern game lasts roughly two hours and is divided into periods called chukkers (occasionally rendered as "chukkas" due to an improper interpretation of the word's phonetics as heard from a speaker using Received Pronunciation). Polo is played professionally in 16 countries. It was formerly, but is not currently, an Olympic sport

Source :- Wikipedia


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