Mountain venue sees polo reach new heights of appeal

International tournament for female players ensures plenty of action to entertain spectators in newly built club in Wulong district, report Tan Yingzi and Deng Rui in Chongqing.

Surrounded by green mountains, shrouded by white clouds, over 100 Chinese spectators enjoyed a summer afternoon in Wulong district, Chongqing, watching an international women's polo match, sipping Champagne and listening to music played by a popular local symphony orchestra.

In recent years, polo, once hailed as "the sport of kings", a high-end team sport with ancient roots, has started to gain popularity in China, as a group of Chinese polo lovers have been trying to revive the sport's culture in the country.

"I knew little about polo before I was invited to watch the match this time, but now I am deeply attracted to this niche sport," said Wang Yanshan, a spectator who flew from Beijing to the southwestern municipality over the weekend early this month.

In pink, the dress code of the event, the Chinese spectators tasted the charm of the polo event. They sat under the white tents, drank pink sparkling wine and afternoon tea, and chatted with friends, while cheering for the polo players on the field.

From Aug 1 to 3, the 1003 Polo Club hosted the inaugural Rose Polo Cup, an international tournament dedicated to female riders, at its newly built facility on Xiannyu Mountain, or Fairy Mountain, in the district which boasts a breathtakingly beautiful natural landscape.

It attracted top polo players from Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Switzerland, Argentina, Ireland and China. They formed three teams, British Rainbow Team, Singapore Claremont Family Office Team and Canadian Sunshine Team, to compete against each other. The British Rainbow Team won the title.