Polo is older than recorded history but, as Lisa Smyth discovers, its recent revival among the urban elite and CEO billionaires around the world means it could soon be coming to a field (or vineyard) near you.
In China, in the year 910, the death of a favoured relative during a polo game led Emperor A-pao-chi to order the beheading of all surviving players. While times have changed somewhat and modern polo players don’t have to worry about beheading, the sport is definitely not for the faint of heart.
“Playing polo gives an incredible adrenaline rush and it’s completely addictive. It is a difficult sport to master; you are on a huge horse trying to hit a ball with a small mallet – the skill level required is very high,” proclaims Janek Gazecki, Founder of Australia’s Urban Polo series. “It takes a lot of courage to get up on a horse and face down other world-class players – it is a fantastic thing to see and experience.”
ANCIENT AND MODERN
Gazecki founded the Urban Polo series in 2005, two years after a friend introduced him to the sport. An associate at a law firm in Sydney, Gazecki became a passionate amateur player of this unique Persian sport, which originated over 2,500 years ago in Central Asia as a way to train cavalry men for war. The game was often played with up to 100 men to a side, though in modern polo each team has only four players.
This story is from the April/May 2018 edition of The CEO Magazine India.
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This story is from the April/May 2018 edition of The CEO Magazine India.
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