India Celebrate its Champions: The Indian Polo Awards

The much-awaited The Indian Polo Awards (TIPA) successfully commenced with a grand ceremony at the City Palace, Jaipur, Rajasthan. The event, which saw Polo’s greatest names coming together likes of HH Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh of Jaipur, Princess Diya Kumari, Actor Vaani Kapoor, Zarine Khan, Farah Khan, Simone Arora, Chirag Parekh, Maninder Sethi, Rhea Parekh, Sanjiv Bali, Kushagra Bajaj, Harsh Piramal, Lt. Gen MKS Yadav, Simran Shergill, Dhruvpal Godara, Shamsheer Ali, Himmat Bedla, Pratap Kanota, Nimit Mehta, Shyam Mehta, Daniel Ottamendi, Nick Pepper, Lance Watson and Zoya Afroz amongst others.

HH Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh of Jaipur, Rhea Parekh, Vaani Kapoor

A spectacular performance by Bollywood actress Vaani Kapoor enthused the audience right at the start. Acclaimed performers Sharad Saxena and Sophie Chaudhary co-hosted the awards presentation.

Polo players

Explaining the objective behind having the awards in Polo, Shivani Joshi from The Indian Polo Awards commented, “The Indian Polo Awards have emerged from the vision to redefine and re-emphasize the entire gamut of the sport that respects the player and the horse, and the bond between the two. It is an event to honour the most illustrious contributions to the sport that has a heritage sprawling over 2,000 years. The awards honour the uncompromising spirit dedicated to Polo, by recognizing true sportsmanship, and people who have been unflinchingly and loyally contributed to its glory.”

Award Category	Winner	Presented by
Jodhpur The Lady Player	Khungdongbam Habe Devi	Chirag Parekh
Jaipur The Polo Patron	Rajnigandha Achievers	Princess Diya Kumari
Patiala The International Polo Player	Matthew Philip Perry	Maninder Sethi
Kashmir The Army Polo Player	Naik Ravindra Mang	Zarine Khan, Farah Khan & Simonne Arora
Baroda The Traditional Polo Player	Taorem Pradeep Kumar Singh	Consulate General Of Japan Michio Harada
Alwar The Polo Trainer (Army)	Dfr Illyas Ali	Zarine Khan, Farah Khan & Simone Arora
Alwar The Polo Trainer (Civil)	Mr. Mahmood Khan	Zarine Khan, Farah Khan & Simone Arora
Gwalior The Best Polo Pony	Blitz	Zoya Afroz
Emerging Lady Polo Player	Ashley Parekh	His Highness Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh
Bhopal Pataudi The Best Polo Ground	Jindal Polo & Riding Club	Lt Gen MKS Yadav
Contribution to Polo	The Indian Army	Kushagra Bajaj
The Best Team (low goal)	Army Service Corps (ASC)	Princess Gauravi Kumari
The Best Team (high goal)	Rajnigandha Achievers	Vaani Kapoor
LA POLO Lifetime Achievement	His Highness Maharaja Gaj Singh II of Jodhpur-Marwar	Maninder Sethi
Los Polistas The Young Polo Player	His Highness Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh of Jaipur	Rhea Parekh & Vaani Kapoor
The Promising Polo Player	Siddhant Sharma	Sanjiv Bali
The Most Valuable Polo player	Simran Shergill	Princess Diya Kumari

The curated trophy for the event symbolising the infinite preparation that goes behind the game, Mayank Soni from the House of MBJ who carries extensive knowledge of the finest handcrafted jewellery and modern productions techniques said, “The desire to go further in his tryst with jewellery as art has further added to his understanding of the market and its trends. It is pure imagination and fervour for art and the sport of Polo that’s visible in the iconic trophy for the awards.”

LA POLO Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to HH Maharaja Gaj Singh II of Jodhpur-Marwar for his tireless contribution and dedication to the sport. No mention of Indian Polo can be complete without the mention of the contribution of HH Maharaja Gaj Singh II. Maninder S Sethi, Editor-in-Chief, LA POLO, presented the award to HH in honour of his lifelong contribution. On the occasion, in a video message, His Highness said, “I am completely overwhelmed with a surprise for the award you have honoured me with. I would like to thank LA POLO for such an initiative. Such awards are going to attract more young players and more sponsors for the future of the sport.”

Maninder S Sethi, Editor-in-Chief, LA POLO said, “Polo bestowed rewards and riches to many over the course of its history, but never before have we encountered anything remotely identical to The Indian Polo Awards. We at LA POLO, with our consortium to connect Polo, consider The Indian Polo Awards in the right direction to celebrate the champions within, the trailblazing stars who are pushing the benchmark every time.”

Rhea Parekh, Founder Los Polistas and Actor Vaani Kapoor presented LOS Polistas The Young Polo Player. The award was won by the young HH Sawai Padmanabh Singh of Jaipur who has shown outstanding performance in the last few years. His Highness said, “It’s an honour to receive the award. This event would not have been possible without the effort of Mr Maninder Sethi and Mr Chirag Parekh who came together to recognise Polo. The groomers, ponies and a lot of it goes behind the game. It is important to recognize them all.”

On the occasion, Rhea Parekh, Founder, Los Polistas on joining hands with LA POLO commented, “Los Polistas is grateful to be a proud sponsor of India’s first-ever polo awards-TIPA. Our brand name ‘Los Polistas‘ literally means Polo players. This brand celebrates the skill and passion of polo players who put their heart and their lives on stake to play this majestic sport. TIPA shares the same sentiment by awarding these heroes for their efforts in the game, which is why this makes a perfect collaboration.”

The awards night wound up with a fantastic musical performance by Manasi Scott who fired the celebration with her foot-tapping numbers.

About LA POLO

LA POLO emerged as an International polo magazine with a vision to transform itself as the sole magnum opus for archiving the extremely rich tradition of polo. A repository to this royal sport, LA POLO understands its sprawl both on and off the arena, thus presenting a prodigious mlange of the game and the bespoke luxury, aristocracy, fashion, and lifestyle surrounding it.

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