Mongolian Army team make impressive debut

mongolian_armyAn illustrious crowd, including a Prime Minister and ambassadors, watch the British Army versus the Mongolian Army
Guards Polo Club welcomed the Mongolian Prime Minister His Excellency Chimed Saikhanbileg to the Royal Box in the first week of July to watch the Mongolian Army polo team in action. He was joined by several key Mongolians, including the Mongolian Ambassador to the UK His Excellency Tulga Narkhuu and the UK’s Ambassador to Mongolia, Her Excellency Ms Catherine Arnold. This event was a highlight of the IM Power Mongolian Polo Tour, which had also included a coaching session at Sandhurst Military Academy with four-goaler Gaston Devrient, the British Army’s official coach.

Despite only taking up the game earlier this year, the Mongolian players, led by Lt Sarankhuu Khongor, commander of the Mongolian Army’s mounted regiment, put up a strong performance against the Hackett British Army team on the Club’s number one ground The Queen’s Ground. Although the match was played open, the Mongolian team impressed everyone going down by just two goals to their more experienced opponents.

After the game Col Simon Ledger, who had arranged this tour and been a member of the British Amy polo squad that had visited Mongolia earlier in the year, said: “I was most pleased to see the Mongolian Army play so well. The programme by Gaston Devrient to produce such a performance after only six days’ coaching was clearly very effective and I was impressed how the team coped with the very much larger ponies.”

Hackett British Army: Major Robert Skeggs RHA; Lt Jess Wood RA; Capt Nick Walton RHA; Capt George Walker KRH. Mongolian Army: Sgt Baasansuren Otgonbayar; 2Lt Sarankhuu Khongor; Sgt Lkhagvadorj Ganbayar; Cpl Tsendsuren Munkhchuluun.

Image copyright Sam Churchill Photography

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