The famous Army Polo Championship saw a thrilling final match between 61st Cavalry and Army Service Corps after a tough round of league matches which also saw participation from Corps of Artillery, Remount and Veterinary Corps and Armored Corps.
Army Polo Championship commenced on 31 Jan 2017 after being re-instituted in 2015 after a gap of ten years.
History of 61st Cavalry:
- At the time of Indian Independence in 1947, the only mounted cavalry remaining in service were the President’s (formerly Viceroy’s) Body Guard and several units that had formed part of the Imperial Service State Forces, provided by the Indian Princely States.
- Upon the integration of the State Forces into the regular Indian Army in 1951, the remaining horsed cavalry units were reorganised and reconstituted into several separate horsed cavalry units which were later combined into a single regiment.
- On 1 October 1953 the “New Horsed Cavalry Regiment” was established at Gwalior, with Lt. Col. Phulel Singh of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces as its first Commandant. The new regiment was re-designated as the “61st Cavalry” in January 1954.
- The 61st Cavalry is one of the world’s last remaining non-ceremonial cavalry units.
- Horse units have been used in areas where terrain does not favour vehicles. The last time 61st Cavalry were used in a wartime role was in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War where they were used for long range patrols in the border areas.
- The regiment has a strong polo playing tradition, producing some of India’s best polo players. Members of the regiment have won the Arjuna award – India’s highest award for outstanding sportsmen – four times for polo and five times for equestrian events.
Facts Sourced from Wikipedia
