Manipuri Sagol Kangjei Polo Imphal Manipur

Sagol Kangjei, the original form of polo played by the Meitei people of Manipur on the Manipuri pony or Marwari pony-related Sagol breed, is now recognised internationally as the ancestral form of modern polo introduced to colonial British India by the observation of Meitei matches in Imphal during the 1850s. The Manipuri version of the game uses a smaller field than international polo, a bamboo root mallet, a willow-root ball, and seven players per team rather than four, with the game beginning after a ritual invocation of the deity Marjing, the polo deity of Meitei religion whose shrine stands at Heingang. The Sagol Kangjei format is still played at the historic Mapal Kangjeibung polo ground in central Imphal, the oldest polo ground in the world in continuous use, during the spring and autumn polo seasons and the annual Lai Haraoba festival. The Manipur Polo Association and the Manipur Olympic Association promote the traditional game and Manipur pony breeding, and the Manipur pony is listed as a rare breed by the National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources.