Polo is a horseback ball game, a traditional field sport and one of the world’s oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ball through the opposing team’s goal. Each team has four mounted riders, and the game usually lasts one to two hours, divided into periods called chukkas or “chukkers”

Polo has been called “the sport of kings”, and has become a spectator sport for equestrians and high society, often supported by sponsorship. The concept of the game and its variants date back from the 6th century BC to the 1st century AD, originated from equestrian games played by nomadic Iranian peoples. The sport was at first a training game for Persian cavalry units, usually the royal guard or other elite troops.A notable example is Saladin, who was known for being a skilled polo player which contributed to his cavalry training.It is now popular around the world, with well over 100 member countries in the Federation of International Polo, played professionally in 16 countries, and was an Olympic sport from 1900 to 1936.

Polo is played professionally in many countries, notably Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Iran, India, New Zealand, Mexico, Pakistan, Jamaica, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and is now an active sport in 77 countries. Although its tenure as an Olympic sport was limited to 1900–1939, in 1998 the International Olympic Committee recognised it as a sport with a bona fide international governing body, the Federation of International Polo. The World Polo Championship is held every three years by the Federation.

Polo is unique among team sports in that amateur players, often the team patrons, routinely hire and play alongside the sport’s top professionals.

The playing field is 300 by 160 yards (270 by 150 m), the area of approximately six soccer fields or nine American football fields (10 acres), while arena polo is 96 x 46 metres. The playing field is carefully maintained with closely mowed turf providing a safe, fast playing surface. Goals are posts which are set eight yards apart, centred at each end of the field. The surface of a polo field requires careful and constant grounds maintenance to keep the surface in good playing condition.

Categories: Learning, Sports

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