Excelsior Sports Correspondent
LEH, June 13: As a part of Singay Khababs Sindhu Festival, a polo match was played between Indus and Shayok teams at Leh Polo Ground today.
Minister of State for Home and Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani was the chief guest on the occasion.
The match was won by Indus team defeating Shayok team by 2 goals.
The history of polo in Leh dates back to Senge Namgyal’s reign in the 17th century and today, polo is more than a game and a part of cultural heritage in the region. As ever, even today the game of polo attracted huge crowd and the musicians without whom a polo match is incomplete were playing daman and surna which varies according to fortune of the game, accelerating the tempo and increasing in volume at the scoring of a goal.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Ladakh Polo Club has been affiliated with the Indian Polo Association. In district Leh the promotion and development of polo is exclusively carried out by the Dept. of Animal Husbandry, Leh, despite financial constraints.
The others present on the occasion were Talat Parvez, Director Tourism Kashmir, Ex MP, P. Namgial, DC Tsering Angchok, SP Vivek Gupta, guests from outside Leh and good number of domestic and foreign tourists besides local spectators in huge numbers.