Hundreds of spectators gathered together at Pologround, Leh at 5:00pm on 22nd August, to witness the final Regional Polo Tournament where Himalayan Polo Club, Drass (HPCD) played against Ladakh Polo Association, Leh (LPALL). LPALL lead by Captain Ghulam Ali, emerges champion, lifted the winner’s trophy has badly defeated HPCD by 5-1. HPCD was the runner up of the tournament.

Four teams: LPALL; HPCD; Turtuk Polo Club, Nubra and Indus Polo Club, Chuchot,   competed on three-day Regional Polo Tournament at Pologround, Leh which was organized by Ladakh Polo Association, Leh, in collaboration with Kashmir Development Foundation & Institute of Peace, Social Justice and Inter Faith, New Delhi, with the aim of connecting different communities with the same game and to promote polo game, as the traditional game of Ladakh.

Rigzin Spalbar, CEC, LAHDC was the Chief Guest of the event. Shaffi Lasu, EC Tourism and many other dignitaries were also presented at the event.

A hard-fought first half saw LPALL squad scored 3-1, wherein their score shoots to 5-1 in second half of the match; HPCP could not return any points in the second half.

On 20th August, the 1st  Regional Polo Tournament match was played at 3:00pm between Himalayan Polo Club, Drass (HPCD) versus Ladakh Polo Association, Leh(LPALL), where LPALL defeated HPCD by a of 5-1. Turtuk Polo Club, Nubra (TPCN) against Indus Polo Club, Chuchot (IPCC) played the 2nd match consecutively at 4:00pm on the same day, where in IPCC won the match by striking point: 8-1.

21st August saw the match between the two winning teams where LPALL crushed IPCC by 3-0. Two losing team successively competed where HPCD defeated TPCN.
Tsewang Namgail, Cashier, Dept. Animal Husbandry, the commentator for the event, has commended the match in par excellence with that of the rest of commentators of the game in the country with his eloquence and fine knowledge of the game.

When asked the commentator, Tsewang Namgail, why polo game is important to Ladakh, he said: “Polo is traditional game of Ladakh played since 16th century, during the reign of King Singay Namgail. Not alone Leh, but Turtuk, Nubra region and people form Drass, Kargil play the game with full fervent”.

The event ended with the complementary price distributed to all the squads who participated in the tournament.