Polo hails from the forgotten, violent state of Manipur, India. Can anyone save its endangered, fabled horses ?
A short by Stashd Films from Nagaland on Huntre! Equine's work with USPA and international polo on pony preservation. The 10th Manipur International Polo Tournament, 2016.
Persia claims to be the birthplace of polo, but the modern version of the game comes from the small state of Manipur in northeastern India. The British discovered it there and brought “hockey on horseback” to the West in the 19th century. These days, the West is going back to Manipur to play polo.
Manipur’s court records talk about a game back in the 1st century AD and what’s different about polo in Manipur is that this not just a game for posh country clubs. Even ordinary villagers played it.
Manipur Pony Conservation and Development Policy has been approved taking into account of the dwindling number of Manipuri pony, which is a rare species found only in the state.
Amba Suhasini of NDTV Good Times visits the shrine to the Manipuri god of polo with preservation spearhead Somi Roy of Huntre! Equine.
Steve Armour of the USPA and the Houston Polo Club, Ed Armstrong of Yale Equestrian and Polo Center, and L. Somi Roy of Hun-tre! discuss international prospects of Manipuri polo and the Manipuri Pony. Imphal. November 2014.
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The first of 53 ponies entered the Pony Nature Preserve in Heingang and Khundrakpam in time for USPA, German and Thai polo players to see the first phase of this preservation project to house Imphal's street ponies, homeless since ~1985. Spearheading the move for the preserve, the Chief Minister of Manipur, O. Ibobi Singh also declared the Manipuri Pony and Endangered Breed.
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The International Museum of the Horse at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington unveils a new exhibit chronicling the contributions of the people and ponies of Manipur. This Southeastern Himalayan kingdom, now a state in North East India, introduced the sport of polo to the British in 1854...
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Manipuri writer and environmental conservationist MK Binodini Devi visits homeless ponies at Lamphel garbage dump and Ibudhou Marjing Shrine at Heingang and makes a statement to save the Manipuri Pony
We appreciate working through the kind offices of Dr. Lorho Pfoze, MP, and Satyajit Aribam, to bring 100 oxygen concentrators to the rural hill districts of Manipur. Thanks to Sonia Jabbar and the power of women’s polo.
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Two Manipuri women players, Tanna Thoudam and Neelu Rajkumari, join the IPA team to play with Teams USA and Egypt to play for the International Women’s Arena Polo Cup.
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Team Great Britain won 5-2 over Team USA to lift the Manipur Statehood Day BSE Cup at the 5th Manipur Statehood Day Women’s Polo Tournament. The tournament which also featured Teams Argentina, Egypt, IPA and Manipur was the closing event of Polo 150, the global celebration of 150 years of arrival of polo in England from India.
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The Kumbi Polo Village project of Huntre! Equine begins in Kumbi on the shores of Loktak Lake with an introductory polo coaching for 6 village youth by Ed Armstrong.
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Ambassador Dinesh Bhatia awarded the Copa Manipur to La Candeleria de Pilar, winner of the Argentinian ladies polo tournament to select Team Argentina to play in the 5th Manipur Statehood Day Women's Polo Tournament in January 2020.
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Argentina lifted the BSE Cup in a tight win over Team USA. Huntre! Equine's Most Improved Team Award went to Team Manipur which tied with Kenya for third place. And Polo Yatra went to Mumbai with Team USA.
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Anna Winslow-Palacios of Team USA received the first Edelweiss MVP Award from Edelweiss VP Brian Lobo at the Los Polistas International Women's Polo Cup, co-presented by Polo Yatra and featuring Team USA.
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Team Argentina won in a shootout after 6-6 draw with Team USA in a heart stopping finals.
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Copa Manipur was instituted by the Asociación Argentina de Polo(AAP) in Buenos Aires in 2018. A polo journey to participate in the 4th
Manipur Statehood Day Women's Polo Tournament, sponsored by Incredible India!,
was awarded to the winner of a tournament of 13 Argentinian women's polo teams that was held in the Argentinian capital.
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Besides the teams and their players, the journal includes articles on the history of polo in Manipur, early British polo in India, the
American story of the tournament, and exploring the connection between the Waler and the Manipuri Pony..
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Six women's polo teams - Australia, Indian Polo Association, Kenya, Manipur Marjing, Manipur Thangjing, and USA - played in the field league tournament. Team Kenya took the BSE Cup.
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Kenya edged United States of America 5-4 to clinch the 3rd Manipur Statehood Day Women’s Polo Tournament at Kangjeibung Grounds in Manipur..
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Six women's teams contested in the 3rd Manipur Statehood Day Women's Polo Tournament, presented by Manipur Tourism, in a field league tourney for the BSE Cup.
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January 24, 2017
Steve Armour, Governor-at-Large of the USPA, rings the closing bell at the Bombay Stock Exchange, with assistance from Annabel McNaught-Davis, captain of the Hurlingham Polo Association women’s polo team, after a luncheon hosted by Ashish Chauhan, CEO and Managing Director of the BSE. An Assam High Tea at Ministry of New, hosted by Roopa Barua and L. Somi Roy, partners in Hunter! Equine, and sponsored by TeaTrunk, followed.
Team USPA Women won 9-3 over Hurlingham in the 2nd Manipur Statehood Day Women’s Polo Tournament at Mapal Kangjeibung Polo Ground in Imphal. The three-way league also featured Manipur. The tournament was sponsored by Manipur Tourim, and organized by All Manipur Polo Association.
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Nasr Polo Club of Hyderabad hosted a four-day polo clinic and arena tournament in Hyderabad. The clinics were conducted by Team USPA Women and were held in the morning. The games featured mixed teams of American players from Team USPA and women players from Hyderabad, Chennai and New Delhi. Trophies awarded were the Mir Mahbub Ali Khan Nizam VI & Sir Viqar Um-Umra Cup and the CM Cup.
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Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh of Jaipur invited Team USPA to play at Mundota Fort and Palace in Jaipur. The mixed teams also included men and women players from India, England and Switzerland and played for the Antriksh India Jaipur Gold Cup. It was hosted and organized by Vikram Singh Rathore of the House of Mundota, Jaipur.
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The India International Women's Polo Tour of India features Team USPA Women and Hurlingham Polo Association at games and coaching clinics at Jaipur, Hyderabad and Imphal.
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Team USPA Women’s India tour in January was the first time a women’s polo team had visited the country. The team, composed of Cristina Fernandez, Carly Persano, Tiamo Hudspeth and Julia Smith, was led by Steve Armour.
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Huntre!Adventures brings the first women's team to India: Team USPA Women will play in the inaugural Manipur Statehood Day Women's Polo Tournament (January 17-21) in Imphal and the Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Cup (January 24) in Jaipur. Click here for the program Details
Manipur Polo and Nagaland's Hornbill Festival Tour: Discover an exciting new frontier, India’s North East Region, with a unique equestrian
adventure in Manipur and a celebration of tribal culture and sports in Nagaland. With Thomas Cook International and Emma Horne Travel.
International Package»
Domestic Package»
Hun-tre Polo Tours arranged for the Genghis Khan Polo and Riding Club of Ulaan Bataar and the US from Team USPA to play in the 8th Manipur Polo International Polo Tournament.
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Radio interview with Christopher Giercke, founder
Join ORIGINS:POLO IN THE LAND OF ITS BIRTH
(Nov 23 - 30, 2014), a first-ever, unique, exotic polo adventure to the birthplace of modern polo! Hun-tré! Polo Tours is an international venture of Edward Armstrong Polo.
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A six-member USA team organized by the United States Polo Association was brought by Huntre! to play in the 7th International Manipur Polo Tournament, held in Imphal from November 23-28, 2013.
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Pamela Flanagan in PoloPeoplePlaces
“Wow, these women were tough! The Manipuri women are fearless, determined women with a unique style of play... We were all given an incredible opportunity to immerse ourselves in a different culture and experience a magnificent equine athlete – the Manipuri Pony.”
“This is the best tour I have been s part of, it is an incredible platform for increasing the popularity and enjoyment of women’s polo across the world.”
Two millennia after the first Manipuri polo match, a women’s team is ushering in a quiet revolution, writes Ananya Bahl in The Hindu.
Roopa Barua's paean to Manipuri women polo players, and their encounter with Team USPA, wins top Festival Directors Award at the Equus Film Festival.
Australian, Kenyan, American and Indian women polo players' polo adventure in Manipur. Fan video of "Mundian to Bach Ke ("Beware of the Boys" -Jay-Z Mix)" by Panjabi MC & Jay-Z.
Team USA polo player Eva Crossman of Lexington KY on FindingTheVoices.com podcast from Md, USA, with host Monica Ingudam.
Polo Yatra 2017 was held in Jaipur and Hyderabad with Team USPA Women before Hurlingham Polo Association joined them in Imphal. Video by Roopa Barua, partner in Huntre! Equine.
Watch this video on Team USPA Women and Indian players game at Nasr Polo.
Polo players from the US, Kenya and Australia at the men's international polo in November, 2016. With interviews of L. Somi Roy and Ed Armstrong of Huntre! Equine on how polo is being used to spotlight the state of pony preservation. By Stashd Films from Nagaland...
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India’s foremost lifestyle magazine for women attends a high tea for Team USPA Women and Hurlingham Polo Association at Ministry of New, Mumbai, hosted by TeaTrunk.
In Jet Airways in-flight magazine, Ananya Bahl situates Manipuri women’s polo in the context of women’s sports and cultural activity in Manipur.
Steve Armour, Governor-at-Large of the USPA and manager/leader, and player Audry Persano of Team USPA Women, and Annabel McNaught-Davies, captain of Hurlingham Polo Association, talk about international women’s polo on Impact TV, Manipur.
Rajvi Rao and Chaya headline women’s polo in Hyderabad: A good start to developing women’s polo in South India.
Raunaq Yar Khan, scion of the Nizam of Hyderabad, hosts a hilltop party for USPA and Indian women polo players prior to presenting the cup in honor of Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, Nizam VI of Hyderabad and Sir Viqar Um-Umra.
Filmmaker Roopa Barua covers the 1st Manipur Statehood Day Women’s Polo Tournament in Imphal and Cowgirls v Gopis exhibition game in Jaipur, featuring Team USPA Women.
Sandip Roy writes, with photography by Jasper Johns, on the India’s first women’s polo tournament, and more, Manipur, featuring Team USPA Women.
The world’s only women’s polo magazine covers India’s first women’s polo tournament, featuring Team USPA Women, playing in Imphal and Jaipur.