Polo as a game has historically been played on the backs of horses and the history of polo as played on horses, can be traced back to around the 5th Century before the birth of the Christ. The sport is said to have originated
in Persia. Nowadays, Polo is being played in all parts of the world but with time the sport is taking on some weird forms like, in place of the horse, people have used camels, elephants, donkeys, yaks and even water, in a very loose definition of a ‘means
of transport’. With innovation and technology, where the forms of transport have gradually been turned over to machines, certain sports have also adopted vehicles like golf carts for example and of course the entire world of motorsports. In yet another take
on traditional polo, Cycle Polo is fast catching on and is being played all over the world in countries like Germany, France, USA, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Pakistan and India.
Cycle Polo is said to have originated towards the turn of the nineteenth century in Ireland. The game was invented by a man named Richard Mecredy who used to be a cyclist and after retiring from, invented Cycle Polo.
Since Cycle Polo is a variant on traditional polo played on a long field, Cycle Polo itself uses, as its name denotes bicycles and is also played on a long field whose length varies from 120 to 150 meters in length and 80 to 90
meters in width. The members of the team in Cycle Polo Match are not specified and vary around the world. Generally the game includes six members in a team out of whom only four can play at a time. The players can substitute for others during the match. The
average length of a match is around thirty minutes which is divided into four quarters and each quarter is played for 7.5 minutes. The rest of the rules of the game are similar to those of horse-back polo.
The sport has gained enough popularity towards the end of the twentieth century that the first Cycle Polo match was played at the international level in 1996 which was hosted by the United States of America. In this championship
countries like USA, Canada and India participated with India winning the Championship. The next international Cycle Polo Championship took place in 1999 and now it is being played every year. The gold medal winners were over the years, India in 1996, Canada
in1999, India in 2000, UK in 2001, France in 2002, United States in 2003, Canada in 2004, and the US in 2006. The 2010 International Cycle Polo Championship is being held in Geneva. Apart from the International Cycle Polo Championship, European Cycle Polo
is also organized every year where teams from all over Europe take part in the events. Other countries like Pakistan, India, Argentina, Switzerland, and South Africa also organize domestic championships for Cycle Polo.
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