Qutubuddin Aibak, a Turkic slave from Central Asia who later became the Sultan of Delhi, ruled for only four years, from 1206 to 1210, dying an accidental death during a game of polo in Lahore (in present-day Pakistan) when his horse fell and he was impaled on the pommel of his saddle.

However it was the first Mughal emperor, Babur, who popularised the sport in India and ultimately made a significant influence on England.

The game was slow and methodical, with little passing between players and few set plays that required specific movements by participants without the ball.

[9] Prominent teams of the period included Alwar, Bhopal, Bikaner, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Patiala, Jodhpur, Kishengarh and Kashmir.

The majority of the Cavalry regiments of the British Army and the British Indian Army also fielded teams, the most prominent amongst them were the Central India Horse (CHI), Prince Albert Victor Own Cavalry (PAVO’s Cav), the Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, the 10th Royal Hussars, the 15th Lancers, and the 17/21st Lancers.

The Jaipur team won all the open tournaments in Britain and the Indian Championship in 1933 creating a record that is unlikely to be broken.

[1] The outbreak of the second World War and the mechanization of cavalry units resulted in a decline in interest in Indian polo.

Polo clubs in Jaipur, Delhi, Bombay and Hyderabad subsequently began holding regular tournaments.

The IPA invited the Argentine national polo team to visit India in 1950 and play an exhibition games across the country in a bid to revive interest in the sport.

The India national polo team participated in the 1957 World Championship in France and won the tournament.

Polo has been revived at Leh in Ladakh, at Udaipur and Jodhpur in Rajasthan, Hyderabad and Bangalore in South India.