New Delhi: The polo championship that Maharaja Man Singh II of Jaipur won in 1950 to elevate the name of the country has been repeated after 73 years by his grandson Padmanabh Singh. Man Singh’s grandson Padmanabh, playing for the Saint Mesme team of France, won the title by defeating defending champions Kazak in a 129 degree competition. Padmanabh Singh’s team won the match against Kazak by scoring 11 goals while their opponent scored only 9 goals. Padmanabh’s performance in the final match was very strong. He scored a total of three goals for his team. Padmanabh has been associated with Saint Mesme for the last four years. After this victory, Padmbhan Singh said, ‘It is a matter of pride for us to win the championship. This is also because I am living the legacy of the great polo player Maharaja Sawai Man Singh.
World class polo grounds in Jaipur
After the historic victory in the Polo Championship, Padmanabh Singh said that I had prepared for this competition in Jaipur and Argentina. Jaipur has one of the best polo grounds in the world. After this victory of mine, I hope that the youth in Jaipur will be encouraged by this. Although last year we had lost against the Kazakhs of the same team, but forgetting that, we have won this time.
Talking about the game of his grandfather’s time, Padmanabh Singh said, ‘Polo has changed a lot from the time of Maharaja Mansingh to the game in today’s time. The height of earlier horses was very large. The height of today’s horses has become small. Apart from this, now techniques are being used in this game. Various types of gear have come to prevent injury which was not there before. At that time our grandfathers used to bring horses from Australia for this sport.
Explaining the risk of this sport, Padmanabh Singh said, Polo is a risky sport like Formula One. Sitting on a horse and playing polo at a speed of 40 km is not an easy task. There is a lot of possibility of getting injured in this.