| India- Calcutta Polo Club Celebrates 150 years |
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Photos courtesy of - Raj Kumar Singh Brief history Calcutta Polo Club which is the Oldest Polo Club in the World (formed in 1862) celebrated its 150 years this year with a International Polo Tournament at Kolkata from December 18th to 25th. Calcutta is the birth place of Modern Polo and also has the proud privilege of having the Oldest Polo Trophy in the World – Ezra Cup. The historic and beautiful Pat Williamson Polo Ground in the heart of Calcutta with the backdrop of the imposing Victoria Memorial played host to Teams from Italy , Indonesia , USA participated along with a team from Cavalry (APRC) besides the home team of Calcutta Polo Club. We were honoured to have amongst various International guests Mr Eduardo Huergo, President FIP , Mr Nicolas C Denvers, Chairman, Hurlingham Polo Association besides representatives from South African Polo Association ( Mike Maout ) & New Zealand Polo ( David Edgar) . The Polo Fans in Calcutta were delighted to watch Polo Legend Carlos Gracida who was here to support the Oldest Polo Club achieving this historic milestone. Members of Royal Families from across India including HH Maharaja Gaj Singh of Jodhpur and Maharaj Narender Singh of Jaipur attended the celebrations. The event kicked off with a Grand Opening Ceremony which included display by Pipers Bands, Ceremonial Mounted Musical Ride by the 61st Cavalry Regiment besides launch of a Coffee Table book on the 150 glorious years of Calcutta Polo Club and inauguration of a History Gallery that had a collection of some very interesting photographs. Evenings during the week long celebrations had gala dinners & receptions for all participants. The International Polo Tournament was keenly contested and the home team of Calcutta Polo Club comprising of Antoine Serval , Vishal Chauhan, George Meyrick & Tarun Sirohi beat the team from Italy to win the BFL Corp World Cup.
Calcutta is synonymous with Christmas Polo and 25th December saw a High Goal Match for the BFL Corp Ezra World Challenge played between Calcutta Polo Club and Rest of the World . Carlos Gracida donning colours for the host club played brilliantly to win the game for Calcutta . General V K Singh, Chief of Army Staff & President, IPA presented the specially Crowned Ezra Cup to the Winners. Guests were enthralled with a game of traditional polo from Manipur on this day.
25th December - BFL Corp Ezra World Polo Challenge Crowned Trophy presented by General V K Singh, Chief of Army Staff & President, Indian Polo Association to the victorious Calcutta Polo Club team comprising of Vishal Chauhan , Ravi Rathore, Carlos Gracida and Tarun Sirohi along with Keshaav Bangur , President , Calcutta Polo Club.
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