 Persians Polo Players |
|---|
 Polo MatchA game of Polo at Bethpage Park-1935 |
 Indian Polo Players |
 Luis LaceyBritish Polo Player - 1922 |
 Polo MatchAn image taken at a royal game in 1900 |
 PERSIANS POLOPersians play Polo |
 PERSIANS POLOPersian Polo field |
 Persian Polo Player |
 A Game of PoloPersians Polo Players |
 Iranian Polo PlayerAn Iranian Polo Woman Player (Modern Time)! |
 HISTORY OF POLO - ENGLISH |
 HISTORY OF POLO - ARABS |
 HISTORY OF POLO - America |
 HISTORY OF POLO - AFGHANSAfghan Polo Players |
Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a long-handled mallet. The traditional sport of polo is played at speed on a large grass field up to 300 yards long by 160 yards wide, and each polo team consists of four riders and their mounts. Field polo is played with a solid plastic sphere (ball) which has replaced the wooden version of the ball in much of the sport.
In arena polo, only three players are required per team and the game usually involves more maneuvering and shorter plays at lower speeds due to space limitations of the arena. Arena polo is played with a small air-filled ball, similar to a small soccer ball. The modern game lasts roughly two hours and is divided into periods called chukkas (occasionally rendered as "chukkers"). Polo is played professionally in 16 countries. It was formerly, but is not currently, an Olympic sport. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, polo was first played in Persia (Iran) at dates given from the 6th century BC to the 1st century AD. Other authors give dates as early as the 5th century BC (or earlier).
Its birthplace was Asia and authorities[who?] credit Persian Emperor Shapur II of the Sassanid dynasty of the 4th century who learned to play polo when he was seven years old. Naqsh-i Jahan Square in Isfahan is a polo field which was built by king Abbas I in the 17th century.
Sultan Qutb-ud-din Aybak, the Turkic slave from Northern Afghanistan who then became Emperor of North India, ruled as an emperor for only four years, from 1206 to 1210, but died accidentally in 1210. While he was playing a game of polo on horseback (also called chougan in Persia), his horse fell and Aibak was impaled on the pommel of his saddle. He was buried near the Anarkali bazaar in Lahore (which is now in Pakistan). Aibak's son Aram died in 1211 CE, so Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, another ex-slave of Turkic ancestry who was married to Aibak's daughter, succeeded him as Sultan of Delhi.
From Persia, in medieval times polo spread to the Byzantines (who called it tzykanion), and after the Muslim conquests to the Ayyubid and Mameluke dynasties of Egypt and the Levant, whose elites favoured it above all other sports. Notable sultans such as Saladin and Baybars were known to play it and encourage it in their court. Polo sticks were features on the Mameluke precursor to modern day playing cards. Read more...