The sport of kings is in for a rough ride as dwindling interest and recession squeeze the glamour and big money out of polo
A winding track off the Gurgaon-Pataudi Road, 35 km from Delhi, leads to the Haryana Polo Club, a 30-acre property landscaped as a polo field with lush green foliage around the stables, a small club house and a polo schooling arena. It’s a warm Sunday afternoon at the end of the polo season in Delhi and the finals of the Tiger Mountain Cup begin in an hour. Brothers Uday and Angad Kalaan, who boast a handicap of 4 and 5, are in the middle of a practice session, the rumble of their horses resounding in the air as they chase a ball. The majestic sport has attracted the fashionable set over the years and, true to that image, a few ladies wearing trendy hats have begun to trickle in, some with dogs in tow, to socialise in the last of Delhi’s winter sun.

But the serious glamour that surrounded polo matches in the last 10 years with stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan making an occasional appearance, actor Priyanka Chopra driving across the field in a studded chariot and Sushmita Sen handing out prizes to the winning team, is absent. The swelling crowds are missing as are city photographers out to do some celeb-spotting. The grounds have an empty, desolate air. The hoardings of co-sponsors that dot the field are no longer in place. The big bucks have gone.

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