Often called the “recreation of kings,” polo is among the world’s oldest crew sports activities. Its origins may be traced to Persia (Iran) between the sixth Century BC and the First Century AD. However, very few may additionally recognize that the modern-day model of the sport has its roots in India.
And now, nearly one hundred sixty years later, 3 Indians – a former Indian Army colonel and two MBAs from Symbiosis – are trying to revive and promote the sport through what they are saying is “India’s first polo startup,” the Royal India Polo Club (RIPC). Launched in January 2019 using Colonel Tarun Sirohi, Vikrant Singh Mathur, and Krishan Ramawat, Gurugram-based RIPC is an invite-handiest individual club. Col. Sirohi became the commandant of the 61st Cavalry, the handiest horse-installed regiment of the Indian Army, and the captain of the Indian polo team. He also served as the secretary of the Indian Polo Association (IPA). Vikrant comes from a sports management historical past, having labored carefully with polo players, team consumers, and sponsors for over a decade. Krishan has a corporate history of reveling in senior leadership positions for a long time.
Krishan became Vikrant’s senior at the Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS), and the two were buddies for 20 years. Col. Sirohi and Vikrant have regarded each other for 12 years, having worked collectively with the Indian polo team on sponsorships, classified ads, etc.
India and polo moved again in an extended manner. British army officers took the game from Manipur to Britain in the 1860s and then, through its diverse colonies, spread it around the arena in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In fact, the first polo club in the world was established in Silchar, Assam, through some British officers in 1859.
The game is played on horseback among two groups comprising four gamers every. The gamers use mallets with long handles to force the ball into the other group’s aim to submit to score.
RIPC gives gamers everything they need to play the game—it has its own polo ground, horses, and stables in Gurugram. Col. Sirohi says that accessibility, not affordability, is stunting the sport’s growth. For this reason, we came up with the concept of making RIPC.
“For polo, the main kit is the pony. Our contributors can get the right of entry to our stables beside the membership’s horses. The club’s 14 horses are largely for people who want to analyze the sport. We first educate them on how to experience it afterward, which is how we teach them to play polo. Besides being a polo membership, we also are an enabler for humans to begin gambling the sport extra,” Vikrant says. From young faculty kids to professionals, all membership participants are educated through polo gamers from the 61st Cavalry, with Col Sirohi overseeing the sports activities characteristic of the commercial enterprise, the RIPC founders say. They currently have 50 individuals on board.
RIPC may be very specific about who they bring in as a member. Speaking about the matters they look for, Vikrant says, “You need to be nicely knowledgeable with a positive amount of pedigree and lineage. Alternatively, you should be from a good enterprise faculty or an Ivy League institution.” Every iciness, the club organizes traditional polo sundowners and luxurious evenings with loose-flowing champagne, single malt, cigars, jazz, and blues. “There are sacrosanct surroundings to these evenings, and we would now not need any miscommunication, thereby bringing in members who may not match that profile,” Vikrant says.
