Ask anyone who's been to polo in Delhi- the best polo action, for some reason, happens at the far end :).

What Jaipur Polo Ground needs, is this:

or this:

Images: 1. videoprojecteddisplays.com 2. videoscreens.net

1. A polo teams consists of 4 players who play with 'handicaps' between -2 (beginner) to + 10 (highest level of proficiency). Combined total of all handicaps make the team 'handicap'. A team playing with a lower/ weaker combined handicap would be credited, at start of play, a calculated number of goals to compensate for the difference (I will talk about the calculation process in another post). A level playing field has now been established, literally. No adjustments are however made in an 'open' tournament.
2. A game is played for 4/5/6 chukkers, depending on whether it is a low or a high goal game.
3. Each chukker is of a 7 minute duration.

   
   (polo shot image courtesy http://www.polo.co.uk/)
   
   

Horsing around is serious business

Unedited as 'I' wrote it :) - prefer it like this.

M.F. Hussain loves to paint them; Dr. Vijay Mallya is passionate about them; our Finance Minister doesn’t find it too ‘taxing’ to take an afternoon stroll to watch a ‘chukka’ or two. Horse aficionados all!
For thousands of years man has been fascinated by this beautiful and captivating creature- the horse. Almost divine in their perfection, horses have been considered the ultimate symbol of elegance-power-pride.

Big Monies… high stake racing.

There is a lot riding here, with on-course attendance of 2 million each year; an estimated 1000 million rupees in betting turnover; prize money in excess of Rs. 200 million each year (the highest, compared to any other spectator sport in India-the Indian Derby and the Poonawalla Breeders Multi Million alone give out prize money of 6.8 million rupees and 6 million rupees, respectively).
Although horse racing is where the big money is, one sport that retains the quintessential romance of the horse and yet is certain to get your adrenalin pumping is Polo and it is this segment that we shall try to cover in this piece.

Right place… at the right time.

As we step into another polo season (Delhi season kicks off in the 1st week of November this year), I cannot help think how much has changed for the game in the last 4-5 years. Polo has seen a revival of support and it has been extraordinary, to say the least.

It began a few years ago, when concerted efforts of the army; corporate patrons; royal families, who had worked tirelessly on promoting the game, bore fruit.

But, another phenomenon taking place at the same time, was perhaps equally responsible for the turnaround – an array of high-end domestic and multinational brands - Omega, Hyundai, ABN Amro to just name a few - that had arrived in the late 90s and the new millennium, were trying to capture the mind-space of their target audience, but were increasingly faced with a ‘clutter’.