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CAIS
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
& CULTURAL NEWS©
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Polo,
Iran’s Ancient Sport Becomes International
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18
September 2005
Iran
is trying to register its' 3000-year-old polo
as its first Iranian sport on the UNESCO List of
Intangible Heritage.
According to Houman Bagheri Fakhr, secretary of
the Polo Federation of Iran, regarding the value
of the game, which dates back to 3000 years ago,
in the ancient Persia, the federation is trying to
make it international and introduce it to the
world through its registration on UNESCO List of
Intangible Heritage.
“Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization of
Iran is planning for registration of polo, after
the registration of the intangible heritage of
nomads” says Mohamad Mirshokrae, director of
Iran’s Anthropology Research Center.
According to Mirshokrae, first of all Iran should
introduce the game to the people, and let them
know that that Iran is the pioneer of polo in the
world, then the process for the registration would
surely be speed up.
“Although most of the countries in the world
play the game, but its history goes back to
ancient Persia; especially during the Sasanid era,
Polo was a very common game”, says Mirshokrae.
To familiarize people with the game and expand it,
the Anthropology Research Center of the Cultural
Heritage and Tourism Organization of Iran with the
cooperation of the Polo Federation have held 2
polo cups so far and the first ever Women polo
tournament just a few days ago in Tehran.
Polo is not just limited to Iran, and in some
countries such as Pakistan and the United Kingdom
is a popular game. For the registration of
previous shared intangible heritage such as
Nowruz, Iran filed with the other countries
sharing the heritage, but for registration of
polo, nothing has yet been decided.
In response to the question of whether polo’s
file will be handed as an independent file or as a
shared one, Mirshokrae told CHN, “Polo has a
special situation, on one hand its roots are in
Iran, and on the other hand, nowadays it is more
popular in other countries. We have not yet
decided in the Anthropology Research Center what
to do, and we have to study the case and situation
more carefully.”
Based on historical evidence, polo was the first
Iranian game which was introduced to countries
around the world later on. Some research date it
back to 4000 years before the Christ, and some
other believe that it dates back to 500 years
before the Christ.
What is clear is that polo goes back to at least
2000 years ago, and has its root in Ancient
Persia. The game is known as the “Game of the
Kings” in the east. Until 1936 polo was among
Olympic competitions, but by the end of the Second
World War, the glorious time of polo came to an
end.
The international federation of Polo was used to
be in Buenos Aires, but it has been transferred to
Beverly Hills, California, US. The federation has
48 members from all over the world.
The word polo itself is a Tibetan word which means
ball. In Argentina, polo is a very popular game
and it is broadcasted on TV and radio without any
commercials. There exists some 275 polo clubs in
the United States of America and some 3500 people
play the game. The special interest of Americans
in polo increased after United States won the
World Cup of Polo in 1989 in Berlin. Today, US
invests more than 25 billion dollars in the game
every year.
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