The Kolkata Polo Season 2022 starts tomorrow at the world’s oldest polo ground , the Pat Willamson Polo Ground at the Royal Kolkata Turf Club and will continue till 30th December.The Polo season will showcase some of the finest talents in the Indian Army wherein teams from the Army Service Crops, Armoured Crops Centre and School, Remount Veterinary Crops , Indian Artillery and 61 Cavalry would be participating for three coveted trophies Rising Sun Polo Cup, Fort William Challenge Cup and Army Commender’s Polo Cup.
Lt Col Vishal Chauhan, of 61 Cavalry the highest handicap Indian Army polo player will participate in these tournaments. Captain of the Indian Army team , Vishal has played 3 consecutive World Cup for India.He Has represented India since 2005 and played polo in more than 14 countries.Along with him some other talented faces of Indian Army polo team Major Aman Singh, Naveen Singh and Vijay will also participate.
The final of Army Commander’s Polo Cup will be played tomorrow. Lt. Gen .Rana Pratap Kalita GOC-in-C Eastern Command , will be the chief guest.
Fort William Challenge Cup
Chief of Staff, Eastern Command, Lt. Gen. Kamal Kumar Repswal will be the Chief guest on the final of Fort William Challenge Cup.This tournament is going to be played as a 6-Goal event.All the available services teams will be competing for this Cup and the final will be on the 25 Dec 2022.In the last season the tournament was played in a similar manner i.e. a low goal polo, for the gentle man cadets and cadets of IMA and NDA .
Rising Sun Polo Cup
This will be a 8 Goal, polo tournament and the final will be played on 30th December.This time this Cup will be played by the services players and men from the various teams. This will give a chance for the low handicap players to be included in the teams and give an opportunity to the budding riders to participate in a tournament.
Indian Army is the backbone of polo in the nation. The Army chief has been the president of the Indian Polo Association (IPA) over the years for a reason as the 80 per cent of the grounds and facilities are held by the Army. Most of the accomplished polo players that we see today have come up the ranks with the support of the Army whether it is Dhruvpal Godara, Manupal Godara ,Samir Suhag, Uday Kalaan, Angad Kalaan, and Vishal Chauhan etc.
So we can say contributions of Indian Army to Polo in India is immense.
If Polo is popular in India and is still played in the country, then the Indian Army is one of the main sources of inspiration for the same.
Source: Indian Army
Author- Pratyusha Mukherjee
