Hyderabad still loves polo

Hyderabad may have lost a riding club, but its love for polo is only getting stronger. A whole bunch of enthusiasts have got together to fill the void that the erstwhile club has left in its wake.
The king of games is the game of kings.” That’s the tribute paid to polo, etched in bold letters at Shandur, Pakistan, the highest polo ground in the world.Contrary to popular belief, polo is a Central Asian sport that the British took to while in India, and later popularised on yonder shores. It was a passion of nawabs and maharajas , but with the rise of independent nations its popularity dwindled. “When India became an independent nation, most of stud farms were lost as they fell into the region that became Pakistan. So the sport suffered,” explains Saif Attari, a polo player from Hyderabad. In Hyderabad, however, the AP Riding Club was where aficionados hung out, talked horses, and played polo. But now even that is gone. “The Riding Club had been around since the 1970s, and its closure was a loss,” says the trainer and Manager Khader Siddiqui. “The city also had 17 other polo grounds, but now the only one around is the Army Bison Club, clearly out of bounds for civilians. Sad because the city was one of the oldest polo centres in the world, with many playing polo here since 1875,” chips in Siraj Attari, South Zone Steward of the Indian Polo Association.
But hold your horses, Hyderabad loves the game far too much to sit around and do nothing. For the upcoming World Military Games, three countries will compete at the city’s grounds.
A whole bunch of aficionados, too, have come together to float their own club. And one of them has even introduced Arena Polo – a version of the game suited to small spaces – to the city. Chetan Kumar, a businessman and the man in question, explains, “Arena Polo is more of a spectator’s game than polo itself. Since it’s played on a smaller ground, with a smaller team, it’s easier for viewers to keep track of what’s going on in the field.” He continues, “Many of us were starting to get restless about not having enough polo options in the city. And with a private farm on the outskirts of the city, turned into a riding club, that got addressed.” Incidentally, it is also one of the few Arena Polo ground in the country, which is equipped with efficient floodlights.
Corporate manager Venkat Sama says, “A whole lot of expats have been coming down to the facility to indulge in the game, and of course, even kids are enjoying the kiddie version.”
The venue has some national polo tournaments too. Plus Siddiqui trains horses which are sent here from the Race Course. Instructor Shonali Kocharekar, who’s focused on being a trainer herself, adds, “I think the place gives me all the necessary inputs I need to follow my career dreams, which are channelled in the direction of becoming a trainer. And unlike other cities, the club here is more centrally located, not far from the city.”
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