Germany claims victory at the 2018 Beijing International Polo Open Tournament

2018 Beijing International Polo Open Tournament [Photo provided by the Publicity Department of CPC Yanqing Municipal Committee]

2018 Beijing International Polo Open finals presentation Ceremony [Photo provided by the Publicity Department of CPC Yanqing Municipal Committee]

On September 22nd, the finals of 2018 Beijing International Polo Open Tournament started in Sunny Times Polo Base, Yanqing District, Beijing. Participating in the competition were Germany, New Zealand, Britain and China. In the very end, Germany ranked first, Britain second and China third.

Beijing International Polo Open Tournament was established by Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau in 2009. The tournament has been held for ten years in a row and is the first international polo competition hosted by the government. This year, China was represented by university polo players for the first time.

This year marks the fifth year since President Xi brought up the Belt and Road Initiative. Beijing International Polo Open Tournament and relevant seminars were held at the same time. Yanqing District is trying to build a demonstration polo base in China and such bases will appear in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia and Hebei as well. Based on Beijing International Polo Open Tournament, China will build featured industrial gardens with polo as the highlight and horses as the theme.

Background Information:

Polo was originally called “Ji Ju”. It dates back to the Han Dynasty and became popular in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Later it was brought to Britain through India and gradually spread to all parts of the world. Now polo activities are held in over 80 countries and regions. Beijing International Polo Open Tournament has long been co-organized by Beijing Sunny Times Polo Company Ltd., the first professional polo enterprise in China. The competition is viewed as “the wind wane of China’s polo development”.

This tournament was featured by horses and relevant activities. Polo competitions, horse-themed cultural communication activities and horse performances comprehensively promoted polo activities and a healthy way of life relevant to horsemanship, and showed to the audience the features of Yanqing and the development of horse-themed tourism, culture, sports, trade and commerce there.