Page 306 - Westport Guide To Malaysia

298 POLO
Malaysia’s King
of Games
By Peter Ibrahim Abisheganaden
“Let other people play at other things - the King of Games is still the Game of Kings”
Inscription on an ancient stone tablet at a polo ground in Gilgit, Baltistan
No sport invokes romance like polo does – fast- paced action, powerful horses, fit players and
an elite lifestyle between chukkas. The game itself
is a challenging equestrian team sport that evolved from ancient competitions between groups of mounted warriors. Those who play or follow polo include royalty, world leaders and beautiful people from Hollywood to Bollywood.
Polo was introduced to Malaya by the British in the late 1800s. The first club
HRH Tengku Abdullah Ahmad Shah, Crown Prince of Pahang, receives a polo trophy from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
formed was the Singapore Polo Club in 1886. The Royal Johor Polo Club reportedly took up the game in 1889. Selangor Polo Club was founded at Port Swettenham in 1902. Polo clubs at Butterworth and Penang followed soon after. From 1911, polo was played at the Selangor Turf Club at Ampang Road,
site of today’s PETRONAS Twin Towers. Iskandar Polo Club was founded at Kuala Kangsar in 1923 by Sultan Iskandar of Perak, himself
a keen player. The Malayan Polo Association, now Royal Malaysian Polo Association (RMPA), was formed in 1922 as the sports’ governing body.
In 1926, Sultan Iskandar presented polo ponies
to Pahang’s Sultan Abu Bakar on the occasion of his engagement to Sultan Iskandar’s daughter, a condition of the marriage being that the bridegroom became a polo player. This started Pahang’s love affair with polo, with Sultan Abu Bakar founding the Royal Pahang Polo Club that year.
In 1963, Malaysia’s first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, granted Selangor Polo Club a lease of 26 acres of land amidst
Their Royal Highnesses the late Sultan Iskandar of Johor and Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang line-up against HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (No. 4), in Singapore, circa 1966.