The Hong Kong polo team travelled to Singapore recently to compete in the SEA Games Challenge Trophy. The tournament was a warm-up for the upcoming SEA Games in Malaysia, which is featuring polo for the first time in 10 years.
The Hong Kong polo team, supported by Option Group, finished third at the SEA Games Challenge Trophy.
“It was a thrilling match that saw our Hong Kong polo team shine at the SEA Games 2017 in Singapore,” says Dave Savage, president of Asia World Polo and of the Hong Kong polo team.
“I am especially proud of our team’s hard fought third place victory competing against the best teams in the Asia region. We had outstanding support from 170 guests from Hong Kong and beyond.”
For those who need a little polo 101: “The Sport of Kings” was born in Central Asia when nomads played a version of it as a sport and as a training game for upcoming battles. The nomads migrated to Persia (Iran) between 600 BC and 100 AD and they took polo with them. Polo then became a national sport in Persia, played by nobility and military officers.
Modern polo started life in India in the early 19th century and spread to England in 1869 and Argentina in 1872. The first official written rules (on which the present international rules are based) were created in the 19th century. Polo today is played between two teams who each have four players on horseback. A game of polo consists of four, six or eight “chukkas” and each chukka is seven minutes long.