page_title: Polo
section_title: Argentina
hierarchical_section_title: Polo / History / Modern game / Argentina
caption_attribution_description: Español: Campeonato Argentino de Polo 2010
context_page_description: Polo is a horseback mounted team sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports.
  The concept of the game and its variants date back from the 6th century BC to the 1st century AD. The sport originated from equestrian games played by nomadic Iranian peoples and Turkic peoples. Polo was at first a training game for cavalry units, usually the Persian king’s guard or other elite troops. A notable example is Saladin, who was known for being a skilled polo player which contributed to his cavalry training. It is now popular around the world, with well over 100 member countries in the Federation of International Polo. It is played professionally in 16 countries. It was an Olympic sport from 1900 to 1936.
  Polo has been called "the sport of kings". It has become a spectator sport for equestrians and society, often supported by sponsorship.
  The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring goals by using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ball through the opposing team's goal. Each team has four mounted riders, and the game usually lasts one to two hours, divided into periods called chukkas.
context_section_description: British settlers in the Argentine pampas started practising polo during their free time. Among them, David Shennan is credited with having organised the first formal polo game of the country in 1875, at Estancia El Negrete, located in the province of Buenos Aires.
  The sport spread quickly between the skilful gauchos, and several clubs opened in the following years in the towns of Venado Tuerto, Cañada de Gómez, Quilmes, Flores and later (1888) Hurlingham. In 1892 The River Plate Polo Association was founded and constituted the basis for the current Asociación Argentina de Polo. In the Olympic Games held in Paris in 1924 a team composed by Juan Miles, Enrique Padilla, Juan Nelson, Arturo Kenny, G. Brooke Naylor and A. Peña obtained the first gold medal for the country's olympic history; this also occurred in Berlin 1936 with players Manuel Andrada, Andrés Gazzotti, Roberto Cavanagh, Luis Duggan, Juan Nelson, Diego Cavanagh, and Enrique Alberdi.
  The game spread across the country, and Argentina is credited globally as the capital of polo; Argentina is notably the country with the largest number ever of 10 handicap players in the world.
  Five teams were able to gather four 10 handicap players each, to make 40 handicap teams: Coronel Suárez, 1975, 1977–1979 (Alberto Heguy, Juan Carlos Harriott, Alfredo Harriot and Horacio Heguy); La Espadaña, 1989–1990 (Carlos Gracida, Gonzalo Pieres, Alfonso Pieres y Ernesto Trotz Jr.); Indios Chapaleufú, 1992–1993 (Bautista Heguy, Gonzalo Heguy, Horacio Heguy Jr. and Marcos Heguy); La Dolfina, 2009–2010 (Adolfo Cambiaso Jr., Lucas Monteverde, Mariano Aguerre y Bartolomé Castagnola); Ellerstina, 2009 (Facundo Pieres, Gonzalo Pieres Jr., Pablo Mac Donough and Juan Martín Nero).
  The three major polo tournaments in Argentina, known as "Triple Corona" ("Triple Crown"), are Hurlingham Polo Open, Tortugas Polo Open and Palermo Polo Open. Polo season usually lasts from October to December.
  Polo has found popularity throughout the rest of the Americas, including Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and the United States of America.
caption: Argentine Polo Open Championship
exif: {"Image PhotometricInterpretation": "32803", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D90", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "Aperture 3.1", "Image DateTime": "2010:12:05 17:48:12", "Image ExifOffset": "160", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/800", "EXIF FNumber": "63/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1000", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:12:05 17:48:12", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:12:05 17:48:12", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "53/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "300", "EXIF SubSecTime": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2128", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1197", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "450", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}