Polo is finally back in 'Dilwalon ki Dilli' with one of the most anticipated event of the polo calendar, "Bhopal Pataudi Polo Cup 2020". It was in the month of March 2020 that Polo suddenly stopped due to the outbreak of Covid 19. However, like everything else around the world, it seems that Polo is on its way back to normalcy.

Draws For Bhopal Pataudi Polo Cup

As per the draws there will be a total of six teams battling it out for the title. These teams will be divided in two pools. The top team of each pool will play the final. Each pool will be played as per the 'half league' format and all the games will be played to the results, which means that there won't be any draws. In both the pools, first match looser will play with the third team in its second game. In case there are teams with equal points, the decision will be sought by penalty shootout in which  2 nominated players will take three  60 yards penalty shots each.

Teams - Bhopal Pataudi Polo Cup

Pool A

• ARMY (RED)
  • NK Ravinder Mang
  •  Lt ARS Warraich
  •  Maj Aman Singh
  •  Bk. Lt Col Vishal Chauhan

• ARMY (GREEN)
  • Lt Col Prithvi Singh Rathore
  •  Maj Anant Rajpurohit
  •  Lt Col Arjun Patil
  • Bk. Lt Col Sameer Chaudhary

• SONA POLO
  •  Mr Krishna Inkiya
  •  Mr Sunjay J Kapur
  • Mr Tommy Severn
  • Bk. Mr Siddhant Sharma

Pool B

• RAJNIGANDHA ACHIEVERS
  • Mr Siddant Singh
  • Mr Pratap Singh Kanota
  •  Mr Daniel Otamendi
  • Bk. Sawai Padmanabh Singh

• JINDAL PANTHER
  • Mr Venkatesh Jindal
  •  Mr Naveen Jindal
  • Mr Simran S Shergill
  • Bk. Mr Phil Seller

• ARAVALI POLO
  • Mr Raghav Rao
  • Mr Nick Sherring
  • Mr Angad Kalaan
  • Bk. Mr Karan Thapar

Schedule 

Preliminary matches will be played on 14, 15 and 16 Oct from 2.30 pm onward and finals will be played on 18 Oct at 3.30 pm. All the matches will be played at Jaipur Polo Ground.

Some Recent Changes in Polo Rules

Almost all the sports have adjusted as per the new 'need of the hour', and so did polo. The tournament, along with other newly introduced rules for covid 19, will be played as per the following regulations:-

Effect of Covid 19 on Player's Form and Performance

Polo world is full of stories on how a 9 goal polo player remained in jail for 6 years and he still played his handicap when released. Not as severe, of course, but Covid 19 pandemic did seriously restrict the player's practice, regular fitness regime and the training of their horses. It will be interesting to see as to how many of them could improvise and how many kept brooding over their moved cheese. It is time, as they say, to tighten the seat belt and wait for the action !!!