BUENOS AIRES, APRIL 13 (BUS): Some of the world’s best polo players competed this week in Argentina for the first-ever Women’s World Cup, capping years of growing opportunities in a game known for its high-altitude equestrian appeal. Societal sensitivities.
The Women’s Polo World Cup kicked off last Saturday at the Cathedral Stadium in the leafy neighborhood of Palermo in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, and will conclude on April 16 after the week-long tournament, Reuters reported.
The competition features teams from the motherland, the United States, Brazil, England, Italy and Ireland.
“In recent years, the growth of women’s polo has been very impressive,” Clara Cassino, a prominent Argentine player, told Reuters. “Every year it grows significantly more for women’s polo than for men,” she added, referring to women’s tournaments in Argentina and abroad.
An earlier tournament known as the Buenos Aires Women’s Polo Championships began five years ago with its own player rating system, or handicap, and is held each year in conjunction with the men’s tournament, which dates back more than a century.
The women’s tournament is credited with inspiring similar competitions in recent years in Britain and the United States as the game’s popularity has grown.
Polo, often called the sport of kings, is believed to be one of the oldest known team sports in the world, but it is usually only available to men.
He was brought to Argentina’s sprawling plains, or pampa, by British immigrants in the late 19th century, where he found a home alongside South America’s iconic gaucho cowboys.
Today, Argentina is among the best countries in which polo is played, as well as being a major exporter of horses bred specifically for the sport.
The game is played with teams of four players on horses who aim to score points by hitting a ball through goalposts with long wooden mallets at the ends of the 300-yard (274-meter) grass field.
Modern polo combines high-tech innovations, including horse cloning, with handmade buttons, saddles and boots, and is now new opportunities for ladies who want to play.
In an interview, Azucena Oranga, a 20-year-old member of the Argentine national team, rejoiced at the opportunity to compete in the first World Cup.
“It gives us a place of our own and a wonderful opportunity, one that we probably won’t fully realize until in a few years,” she said.
Delfin Oranga, Azucena’s father and president of the Argentine Polo Federation, stressed that the country’s international leadership in the sport is particularly important because other countries often follow suit.
“It sends a message to the world to give women a chance to compete on the same level as men,” he said.