Sanjiv Saran Mehra, President of Bombay Gymkhana with The Bombay Polo Challenge Cup. |
As part of its 150th year anniversary celebrations, Bombay Gymkhana will be organising the prestigious Arena Polo Championship, christened The Bombay Polo Challenge Cup, on May 11.
This will be the second edition of the premier polo event which was revived last year after nearly a century.
This year’s event will be dedicated to two officers of the Royal Engineers, Captain EL Maryyat and Lieutenant CL Young, who founded the club and drew the blueprint on the formation of the Bombay Gymkhana.
The two teams at the Bombay Gymkhana Arena Polo Championship would be named after Maryyat and Young.
A total of three players would feature in each team vying for the championship (The Bombay Polo Challenge Cup) in this arena polo match divided into three chukkers, each lasting about 7.5 minutes.
Bombay Gymkhana, which is one of India’s most prestigious and premier clubs founded in 1875, is a hallowed institution steeped in history.
It has many firsts to its credit as it hosted the very first Test match held in India between India and England in 1933.
For decades, it also hosted the Aga Khan hockey tournaments and even the game of Rugby was played in India at the Bombay Gymkhana.
The Gymkhana also had golf grounds at one point of time and it’s also believed that they had their own sailing club as well.
According to Sanjiv Saran Mehra, President of Bombay Gymkhana, “As a part of the Bombay Gymkhana 150th year celebrations in 2025, we have plans to organise various sporting events, some new additions (like the Bombay Gymkhana 10K run which was held in March 2025) or reviving some sports events linked to our rich sporting heritage. These tournaments are here to stay, last year too when Polo was revived it received tremendous response and building on the success of last year’s historic revival, we will be hosting this Polo event again.”
One of the most priceless mementoes in the trophy room of the almost 150 year-old Bombay Gymkhana is the stunning The Bombay Polo Challenge Cup (Founded in 1882). And the timeless etching on this gorgeous trophy bears witness to the fact that while the inaugural edition in 1882 was won by the Central India Horse team, it was brought back home to the Bombay Gymkhana in 1885 by its polo team.
This was a time when the Army and the civilian teams worked shoulder to shoulder to promote the sport of polo across the country.
This Sunday, the historic sport of polo is once again set to be played under lights after it was held last year in smooth manner on the hallowed grounds of the Bombay Gymkhana – it is indeed a momentous occasion for the sport and for the social calendar of the city once again.
