Tang Polo Club China

In own affaires, Polo News

8. December 2021

The past months offered various highlights – among others in Zurich, Berlin or China – and even more unforgettable moments of happiness.

It‘s a philosophy of life that has inspired me a lot. Asked in an interview with POLO+10 about his view of things in life, Sébastien Le Page, President of Polo Park Zurich, quotes from a book by Nietzsche: „Master, what shall I do to be happy? The master answers: just be happy!“ In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we unfortunately too often forget to recognize happiness in the moment and to consciously enjoy it. That‘s why I plan to do just that much more in the future!

The past few months have offered various moments of happiness for polo fans and players: Special highlights included the Elasten Ladies Cup at PoloPark Berlin and the 22nd Zurich International Ladies Cup, where the women once again put on spectacular competitions. Polo is also finally making a comeback in China after the enforced break – and if the plans of hotel CEO Sanjiv Ramdanee are anything to go by, guests on the dream island of Mauritius will be able to watch polo show matches in the future.

So let‘s all look forward to the coming season in 2022, which will unfortunately have a few planning uncertainties due to the pandemic, but will nevertheless hold various new moments of happiness in store for all of us.

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Thomas Wirth
Founder POLO+10
©Fedora Stoldt

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POLO+10 WORLD 2022 I Print Version

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Tournaments and people, polo science and lifestyle – the new issue of POLO+10 WORLD brings you stories from the whole polo universe.

+++ Polo Park Zürich 22nd Zürich International Ladies Polo Cup: “Bringing in international players to mentor our youngest club members, gathering our local- and guest players to grow our polo family and celebrate our love of polo together; this defines the spirit of the Ladies Cup.” +++ Interview with Sébastien Le Page: He is the president of Polo Park Zurich and one of the most colorful minds on the scene. At the end of the 2021 season, POLO+10 met Sébastien Le Page and talked to him about his very personal season review, plans for 2022, highlights, low points and his philosophy of life. +++ ELASTEN Ladies Cup PoloPark Berlin: Team Ingo Pyko Immobilien wins ELASTEN Ladies Cup 2021. Six ladies polo teams with over 100 polo horses took part in the ELASTEN Ladies Cup at PoloPark Berlin. +++ Open de France: La Magdeleine and Polo Park Zürich reach their dream! +++ San Francisco de Asis Polo Cup: The classical San Francisco de Asis tournament is always played after the August break. +++ Polo in China: Polo in China is getting back: Tang Polo Club China hosted the JJ International Launch Tournament in Anping. +++ Sandpolo: Sandpolo returned to Sandbanks for a September weekend of beach arena polo and after parties. The British Beach Polo Championships 2021 (Sandpolo) adjusted magnificently to the later September date hosting their 14th year event over the weekend (Sept 17-18). +++ SENTEBALE ISPS HANDA Polo Cup: SENTEBALE ISPS HANDA Polo Cup 2021 raises nearly $3.5 million in critical funds for vulnerable children in southern africa. +++ 100th Anniversary Oak Brook Polo Cup: The year 2022 marks the 100th Anniversary since the Oak Brook Polo Club was founded in 1922 by businessman and outdoor enthusiast, Paul Butler. +++ Argentina`s Polo Dynasties: The best polo players in the world come from Argentina. POLO+10 takes a look into the history books and presents famous Argentine polo dynasties +++ Polo in Numbers: Argentina, USA and Europe are the big polo nations. More than half of all clubs and players can be found here. But what about the other countries? And how many clubs and players can be found worldwide? POLO+10 did some research and presents the polo universe in terms of numbers. Many thanks to everyone for the great support! +++ The Big Polo History: Playing technique, speed and team spirit – the fascinating sport of polo is attracting more and more people all over the world. An insight into the world of polo. +++ Polo Rules: As in other ball games there are a variety of penalties for fouls in polo. It is important to understand these so as to better follow a game. POLO+10 explain the different foul-situations according to the official rules of the German Polo Association. +++ Windsor Polo Club: Windsor Polo Club had a successful 2020 Spring Season after recovering from bushfires and COVID, and with events slowly returning to “normal”, everyone thought that brighter days were ahead in 2021. Boy, how we were so wrong. +++ Animal physiotherapist and -osteopath Julia Greb: 6 tips how to improve your horse’s health in everyday life! +++ Mauritius: Timeless luxury on the Indian Ocean: The „Maradiva Villa Resort & Spa“ on Mauritius stands up to even the highest demands. A conversation with „Maradiva“ CEO Sanjiv Ramdanee about hotel highlights, breakfast in the afternoon, polo plans and new markets. +++ Long Island: Long Island allows you to travel back to the golden 20s. +++ Six Senses: Six Senses Belize to Open with Secret Beach and Private Island. +++

© Thomas Wirth

The past months offered various highlights – among others in Zurich, Berlin or China – and even more unforgettable moments of happiness. It‘s a philosophy of life that has inspired…

Asia, Polo News

Polo in China is getting back: Tang Polo Club China hosted the JJ International Launch Tournament in Anping

13. September 2021

By Dr. Cinderella von Dungern

September 13^th, 2021

In ancient China, polo originated 2,000 years ago in the East Han Dynasty (207BC-AD25) when the traditional name for the game was “jiju” and peaked in the Tang Dynasty, who ruled China from 618-907 AD. Polo became the game of choice for the Chinese elite and was viewed as a form of entertainment rather than a competitive sport. Tang emperors used polo even as a tool of diplomacy.

In modern China, polo enjoyed a remarkable renaissance in the past two decades. Many clubs have opened, among them Tang Polo Club (founded 2010 by Shilai Liu, recently relocated from Beijing to Anping/Hebei), Beijing’s Sunny Times club (founded by Xia Yang), Shanghai’s Nine Dragons Club (2008) and Tianjin’s Metropolitan Polo Club (originally backed by Goldin Group, but since around two years operating on their own) with quite an active international participation, interaction and publicity. Many clubs have hosted 16-goal international tournaments with intense media coverage on their impressive grounds, and each club has imported more than 100 ponies from Australia, Argentina and Europe. Chinese players went to polo events worldwide and the sport was undergoing a resurgence in the upper classes of China. Although there are less than 100 amateurs, China seems to develop to an interesting new destination for Polo with much attention from international polo fans.

However, due to COVID restrictions, it has been a very silent polo period over the past 20 months. Since the pandemic started, the polo sport in China has been severely affected in various dimensions. Due to travel and visa restrictions, no foreign polo professionals, trainers or grooms can enter the country since more than one and a half years now. Domestic and international travel and transportation for Chinese polo players and horses are also highly limited due to national lockdowns, long isolated medical quarantine programs and many other restrictive government prevention rules that follow a zero-case policy. In addition to that, logistics for international horse transportation is challenging if not impossible. This is by far the most demanding part, as a good and high-quality polo pony is the basis for every player, especially if the player is just starting to learn or if experienced and wants to improve his/her skills. The horses that have been imported to China in the past 20 years are in excellent condition but of course are reaching their age limits. But importing new horses is extremely difficult since international cargo for horses to China is not easily available in times of Corona. Even if new horses were able to arrive in China, it would require professional international trainers and at least a few medium-goal tournaments in the country to keep the horse’s level high. A constant exposure to high quality chukkas and games would benefit both, horses and players. It seems that those restrictions for global commuting and visa permissions led to a temporary stand-still of the once exciting and very dynamic international polo scene in China.

Against this backdrop, it is encouraging to see that currently three active clubs (Tang Polo Club, Tianjin Metropolitan Polo Club and Nine Dragons Club Shanghai) have continued to host some internal low-goal tournaments and club chukkas and are constantly developing the national scene. Of course, quite a few Chinese players could play higher handicap games and every active Chinese player is longing to get back to international playgrounds and exposure soon, but if there is no other choice, pushing the domestic market is a valuable investment in the longer term. Early September 2021, a special private tournament was organized by JJ International company, hosted by Tang Polo Club at the club’s fields in Anping (three hours from Beijing), to launch the company founding with the vision of promoting polo sport allover China. With an impressive cultural side program and many distinguished visitors from Beijing and the Chinese equestrian society, polo was introduced to the audience in a refreshing way.

Due to strict COVID-limitations the selected numbers of players and games had to be rather exclusive. Eight players competed on two days in two teams (each game with four chukkas). Among the players were three very experienced Chinese polo players: Yanyang Li (hcp 0), chief editor of of the Chinese publication “Horsemanship Magazine”, Yin Bao (hcp 2), manager of Tang Polo Club and Shilai Liu (hcp 2). Shilai Liu is the top polo player in China. Among many other passions and business activities, he is founder and owner of the Tang Polo Club and China’s first member of the International Polo Association. He has played in Argentina, Australia, the US, Europe, and Thailand and is one of the main promoters to establish a legacy for polo in China.

The game was competitive but very fair. Horses and players were in perfect shape, and despite being classified as a low-goal tournament, the level of polo was high and tight. Both teams were rather equally balanced and ambitious, hence the game became very speedy and sportive. The team of Tang Polo Club finally won the tournament with a 12:10 score (6:6 the first day) and received the award from the organizer Justin Jiang, founder of JJ International.

Teams:

TANG POLO CLUB
Jiping (James) Liu (-2)
Ketu Chao (1)
Yanyang Li (0)
Shilai Liu (2)

JJ INTERNATIONAL
La A Gu (-1)
Dr. Cinderella von Dungern (-1)
Justin Jiang (0)
Yin Bao (2)

Umpire
Bao Er