Jaipur: Seventy-three years after Maharaja Mansingh II brought laurels to the royal family of Jaipur by displaying his superlative skills in polo tournaments abroad, one of his descendants has replicated the feat.
Padmanabh Singh, a member of the Jaipur royal family, scripted history in polo with a victory on foreign soil anchoring Saint-Mesme team of France to annex the 1290 Open de Paris trophy.
It was sweet revenge for the French team which met the same Kazakh opponents, who were handed out a defeat by the last year's runners-up in a closely contested game. Padmanabh Singh's team won the match by 11 goals against 9 goals. During this match, Padmanabh Singh scored three goals in the final match. Significantly, Padmanabh has been representing this French team for the last four years.
Soon after the victory, an elated Singh said, "Naturally, being a part of a winning team makes one happy. This is no exception for me. More importantly, It's a proud moment as I am living the legacy of Maharaja Sawai Mansingh, the greatest polo player of all time," Singh said.
The polo player hoped that his success will inspire the youth in Jaipur to take up polo as their preferred game. "I constantly prepared for this match in Jaipur and Argentina. All y hard work has been paid off," he added.
Singh further said that the game has made a quick transition from the era of Maharaja Mansingh. According to him, horses are smaller nowadays as compared to yesteryear's breeds and the sport is more technical now. At that time, Maharaja Mansingh had brought horses from Australia for this game. Regarding the future of polo in Jaipur, Padmanabh Singh said that the sports ground here is one of the best in the world.
"Infrastructure-wise, Jaipur is competitive. International-quality grass is used on the turf. Man Singh Academy has been developed," he added. According to him, polo is a risky sport like Formula One. Padmanabh Singh has made up his mind to train more and more youths for the development of sports in Jaipur.
