INTERN A TION AL SPO TLIGHT
Phunchok Sangrup, Gyaltson Nima, Thufstan
Tersing, Mohd Qasim, Abdul Mannan, Chamba Galdan and Phunchok Wangail
Greenery thrives with irrigation from the glaciers. Ladakh’s fragile ecosystem is threatened by an influx of diesel trucks.
watch the Scouts play recently. The Ladakh Scouts polo team is housed on the outskirts of Leh in a 150-year-old fort with a small polo ground out front. The afternoon I arrived to watch a practice match it was overcast, but hot. Ranges of icy mountains towered across the valley. Directly behind the polo ground rose an 18,000-foot pass touted as the highest motorable pass in the world. The dirt field was
Play didn’t begin until the men on the couches arrived in what is basically the VIP section.
Polo thrived in Ladakh, eventually
playing a role in its greatest cultural epic, King Gesar, the tale of Gesar, a warrior king who was the kingdom’s greatest hero. Patronized first by the royal family and later by the wealthy elite, polo was also popular with the common people; in Leh, Ladakh’s capital, matches were played on the main
A dog, which attended both practices and official matches, gets an up-close look at the action.
street in the center of town until the 1980s. Today, locals say the popularity of polo is
waning. Young Ladakhis are reportedly more interested in cricket, football (American soccer) and, especially, hockey. Yet on game days the stands are packed. Though I was told most fans are over middle age, children, teenagers and folks of all ages turned out to
dry and dusty. Many of the players wore cloth masks over
their mouths and noses. The ground was uneven and decidedly higher at one end; at the other it rose over a city street. The border is a low stone wall, but the ball very seldom goes over.
The Ladakh Scouts are very good at what
they do. In 1996 an international team, Tiger Mountain, came to challenge the
POLO PLAYERS EDITION 45
