DRASS, INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR – Horses raced around the playing grounds at a polo match last month in Drass, a town in Jammu and Kashmir state. Wielding long mallets, the players battled for the ball in front of thousands of jubilant fans.
Excited fans – young and old, male and female – quickly became lost in the final game of the annual Lalit Polo Tournament at Viswanathan Stadium in Drass, also know as Dras. Part of the polo tradition here, music from the surna, a wind instrument, and daman, a percussion instrument, mingled with the fans’ cheers as they rooted on their favorite teams.
A group of local youth watched the match enthusiastically.
“Polo is our traditional sport,” Abdul Rehman, one of the youths, says. “We’ve come over all the way to watch its proceedings.”
The young fans say they flocked to the stadium from the surrounding areas to watch the match. Polo has been declining here in recent years, making the annual tournament a sacred event.
“Though the game is dying its death here, we want it to be revived,” Rehman says.
The group says that the government makes big promises when it comes to reviving polo but so far has not kept them.
Absorbed in the game, few fans took their eyes off the action until it was over. The Lalit Group Polo team beat the Drass Polo team in the final match of the tournament, organized by The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, an enterprise of Bharat Hotels Ltd., a private Indian hotel company.
Khalida Bano, a high school student from Mushkund, an area of Drass, says that her interest in the game drew her to come watch the polo match.
Abdul Rehman, an older resident standing next to Bano, says that he has been following polo for several decades, but that it has been declining in recent years. Still, he says he has hope for its revival.
“Now it has declined comparatively, but it has a great potential to develop,” he says.
Local residents say that polo, the region’s traditional sport, has been declining because of a lack of facilities, equipment, coaches, tournaments and government support. But they say that the sport has great potential to be revived and draw international visitors to the secluded area. The government has pledged to help develop the sport, citing last month’s polo tournament, organized annually by the private hospitality group, as a key start.
Drass, located in the Kargil district on the state’s northern border, has a tough mountain terrain. The second-coldest habitat on earth, Drass is located at an altitude of 3,280 meters, giving it one of the world’s highest polo turfs.
Ghulam Mustafa, a local resident, says that a lack of facilities has led to the decline of sports in Drass, including polo, the region’s traditional game.
“No other game is played here as basic facilities like playgrounds are missing,” he says. “Even polo is not played to that extent now. We play it at a local level.”
Organized polo here is limited to a handful of local teams. Few players have played at national or international levels.
“Being a traditional game, we play polo in our respective villages,” Mustafa says. “Almost every family here owns a horse and practice polo. That is our cultural symbol.”
But he says that the absence of facilities in the area has diminished interest in the sport.
Ghulam Ali, a polo player from Leh, another district in Jammu and Kashmir, has been playing polo for 25 years. He cites the lack of basic facilities and equipment among the major impediments for growth of competitive polo in the area.
Khaleel-ur-Rehman, a young player, agrees.
“There are no facilities,” he says. “Once the tournament is over, even this playground is closed. We have no place to play.”
Zahoor Ahmad, a former polo player from Drass, says that there are four playing grounds here, but that none is properly managed and maintained.
“[The] army developed this ground four years back, and it remains closed after the tournament is over,” he says.
Mohammad Abdullah, a polo coach from Murabagh, an area of Drass, says funding is an issue, as the purchase and maintenance of fields, horses and equipment, such as saddles, headgear and mallets, are expensive.
“No facility is available,” says Abdullah, who played polo for 20 years before becoming a coach. “We pool in our own money to keep the game going. We play for our own interest. But how far can we go this way?”
Another player, Mohammad Abideen, says there is interest in the sport, but scarce opportunities to practice because of a lack of tournaments.
“The area is famous for polo, and even the younger generation is interested,” he says. “But apart from lack of facilities, we hardly get time to practice. Practice makes a person perfect.”
Abideen played in the tournament last month. He says more tournaments are necessary to improve players’ skills here.
“We hardly get a month to practice,” he says. “When the fact of matter is that we should get four to five months so as to perform well.”
Ahmad says the sport suffers from a lack of government support.
“This is our natural game, old game,” Ahmad says. “We are interested in it, but there is no commitment shown by government. No coaching is offered to us. Despite risks involved, we play. We play at our own risk.”
Ahmad says risks include injuries suffered by players or horses while playing or practicing.
“No one takes care if a player or horse sustains injuries,” he says. “Then there is no employment avenue associated with it.”
Rehman agrees that high risks and few coaches are obstacles to the sport’s growth. He says that if players fall from a horse or get hit by a ball, they have to cover all of the treatment expenses themselves. Moreover, the lack of guidance doesn’t help their safety or skills.
“There are four to five local polo coaches here,” he says. “Senior players mostly offer coaching.”
Drass locals say that horses also need better training here. Zanskar, another area of Kargil, produces better polo horses, they say.
“When young, the horses in Zanskar are put in practice,” Abdullah says. “Now, we’ve started training them here as well. But that isn’t enough. We need to utilize these horses in right perspective and revive the game as well.”
Because of the adverse winter in Drass, the area remains cut off from the rest of the world for half the year, Mohammad Abbas, a local resident, says.
“As the area remains cut off for six months due to severe winter, life is tough here during that period,” Abbas says. “On average, firewood during that time costs us around 50,000 rupees [$1,100 USD]. There are no fresh vegetables around. We mostly eat lossa [a meat dish]. Almost no work is done during those months. It is about 5 to 6 feet of snow around.”
Abideen says that polo has a lot of tourism potential to attract people to Drass during the rest of the year to make up for the secluded winter.
“If the game is promoted, tourists, too, will come over to watch it as most do,” he says.
Areas of Drass are already tourism-rich locations. Locals say the revival of polo can add to the town’s draw.
“Polo is on revival over last three years,” says Waheeda Rehman, a high school student. “If it is promoted, we can produce players of international repute that will bring Drass on [the] international map. This is our traditional sport, and we want to preserve it at every cost.”
Omar Abdullah, chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, highlighted the sport’s potential at the July polo tournament in Drass.
“Polo has potential and rich tradition in state, especially Leh and Kargil,” he says.
He says that sports are also a means of attracting players of national and international repute – as well as tourists.
“It can play a great role in promoting tourism and can give boost to economic activities and help to develop local potential,” he says.
He says the government plans to take various steps to develop polo in the region.
“We are determined to develop sports and sports culture in state and provide an opportunity to young sports persons to excel and prove their mettle,” he says.
Mustafa says that the polo tournament, started three years ago by The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, has infused some life into the game.
Jyotsna Suri, chairwoman and managing director of The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, says the group has an emotional commitment toward the people of the beautiful region, drawing the group to hold a tournament here for the third time.
“With support of state government, we hope to bring back Kashmir’s former grandeur and revive its beauty and rich heritage that makes it a must-visit destination,” she says.
Abdullah, the polo coach, says the tournament has helped promote the game that means so much to the region. He says he hopes the sport will continue to grow.
“Our ancestors played it, so we carry it forward,” he says. “This game is our culture. We want to maintain it. Lalit Cup has encouraged us in this direction. Tournaments help many people in the area, directly and indirectly. We want more such tournaments to be organized to revive this game that is in our nerves.”
