Emperor Shapur II learnt to play polo at age seven in 316 AD. It was also part of the royal education for the Sasanian ruling class. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, the Persian ball game was an important pastime in the court of the Sasanian Empire (224–651). During the period of the Parthian Empire (247 BC to 224 AD), the sport had great patronage under the kings and noblemen. It was developed and formalised in Ancient Iran ( Persia) as " chovgan" ( čowgān), becoming a national sport played extensively by the nobility. An archaic variation of polo, regionally referred to as buzkashi or kokpar, is still played in parts of Central Asia. : 25Īlthough the exact origins of the game are not certain, many scholars suggest it most likely began as a simple game played by Iranian people. It is cognate with the Standard Tibetan pulu, also meaning 'ball'. The game's English name derives from the Balti language, from its word for 'ball', polo. The game is originally invented by Iranians and its Persian name is " Chovgan" ( čowgān). History Origins and etymology A Persian miniature from the poem Guy-o Chawgân ("the Ball and the Polo-mallet") during the Safavid dynasty of Persia, showing courtiers on horseback playing polo, 1546 CE Standard mallets are used, though slightly larger-head arena mallets are an option. Arena polo has more maneuvering due to space limitations, and uses an air-inflated ball slightly larger than the hard solid ball used in field polo. The playing field is smaller, enclosed and usually of compacted sand or fine aggregate, and often indoors. It is now popular around the world, with well over 100 member countries in the Federation of International Polo, played professionally in 16 countries, and was an Olympic sport from 1900 to 1936.Īrena polo is an indoor or semi-outdoor variant with similar rules, and is played with three riders per team. In Persia, where the sport evolved and developed, it was at first a training game for cavalry units, usually the royal guard or other elite troops. The progenitor of Polo and its variants existed from the 6th century BC to the 1st century AD, as an equestrian game played by the nomadic Iranian and Turkic peoples. Polo has been called "the sport of kings", and has become a spectator sport for equestrians and high society, often supported by sponsorship. Each team has four mounted riders, and the game usually lasts one to two hours, divided into periods called chukkas or " chukkers". The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ball through the opposing team's goal. Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports.
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