Resurrection of Women's Polo Since Ancient Times - (The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies

The first ever polo tournament for ladies in modern Iranian history is to be held on Thursday, September 15, 2005 in Tehran.

In this event which is to be held in Shohada stadium tomorrow at 4:30 pm, two teams, Ghasre Firouzeh and Kanoon-e-Chogan (Polo Institute) take part and compete at the (0 to -6) goal level. Spectators of both sexes are allowed to watch the competition in the stadium.

The tournament is named “Iranian Literature cup” due to numerous references of women’s polo matches that exist in Iranian poetry and literature and the coincidence of the event with Iranian national day of poetry and literature.

In a letter faxed to CHN, Houman Bagheri Fakhr, secretary of Polo Federation of Iran, expressed hope to stage this tournament annually and explained, “the Polo Federation of Iran, through holding this inaugural tournament, aims to revive a historical Iranian tradition.”

Polo, an Iranian traditional sport, was known to be extremely popular among women in ancient Persia and historical and literary texts feature several references to women’s polo.