The Indian Polo team is all set to compete in the qualifiers of the The XI Polo World Championship Sydney 2017 that will take place from 17-29 October 2017. The Indian team consists of the best Polo talent from the country:- Lt. Col. Ravi Rathore (+5); Abhimanyu Pathak (+5); Angad Kalaan (+4); Siddhant Sharma (+3) and Pranav Kapur (+2). Also, the latest addition to the Indian Polo team is the 18-year old HH Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh of Jaipur (+2). He is the youngest ever player to represent India in a World Championship match.
Eight international teams will contend to be crowned the World Champions. Each team will consist of four-players plus one reserve player. Out of the eight teams which are due to compete, Chile and Australia have already secured their places in the championship.
The remaining six teams will be determined by playing zone play-offs. The winning team from each zone will be taken through to the Championship rounds, except for Zone C where the top two teams will be taken through.
The zone play-offs and the contending teams will be as follows:
Zone B – South America
Teams: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Perú, Uruguay.
Zone B qualifiers were held from 22nd – 29th January 2017 at Punta del Este Polo Club hosted by Uruguay. This Zone Was won by Argentina, who now progress to Sydney Polo Club.
Zone D – Oceania and Southeast Asia
Teams: Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand.
Zone D qualifiers were held from 24th January – 4th February at Thai Polo & Equestrian Centre, Pattaya hosted by Malaysia. This Zone was won by New Zealand, who now has progressed to Sydney Polo Club.
Zone A – North and Central America
Teams: Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, Jamaica, United States
Zone A qualifiers were held from 22nd – 30th April at Port Mayaca Polo Club with the finals at the International Polo Club, Wellington, FL hosted by USA.
Zone C – Europe
Teams: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, San Marino, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey.
The Zone C qualifiers were held from 29th April – 7th May at Chantilly Polo Club hosted by France.
Zone E – Africa, Middle East, India & Pakistan
Teams: Egypt, India, Iran, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, South Africa
The Zone E qualifiers will be held from 29th June – 6th July at Tehran, Iran hosted by Pakistan or China.
The Indian Polo team will leave for conditioning cum coaching programme shortly. The XI World Cup Zonal Play Offs for India are scheduled to be held in Iran from 29 June to 7 July this year.
We wish the Indian team all the luck and hope to see them coming out with flying colors!
