TIANJIN, China (Reuters Life!) – Asia’s first ever snow polo tournament went into its second day on Wednesday at China’s newest and largest polo club, with six top global teams promoting the luxury sport to the nation’s new and growing ranks of wealthy.

Though an early form of polo was once popular with China’s upper classes during the Tang dynasty more than a thousand years ago, the sport of kings died out almost entirely until a recent surge of interest in foreign sports seen as being high class.

The first generations of new wealthy spawned by China’s economic reforms are likely to view golf, red wine and Ferrari as symbols of prestige, but many of the newer generation are looking for something more.

“We have so many international players from all over the world coming together in this area,” Chevy Beh, a 23-year-old player on the Hong Kong team, told Reuters Television”.

“I think that is a good way to promote polo in China.” The “Snow Polo Challenge,” which kicked off on Tuesday, is being held on a pitch covered with artificial snow in the Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club in Tianjin, an industrial port city 90 minutes drive from Beijing.

Teams from England, Argentina, France, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong galloped through the powdery snow, watched by business executives, government officials and invited media.
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The Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club’s meet-and-greet at Cipriani was the picture of gentlemanly aspiration. Amid the ascots and classic cocktails, a quote attributed to wartime British leader Winston Churchill quote circulated like a mantra.

In Hong Kong to promote the Tianjin club’s upcoming international snow polo challenge – a five-day event starting on February 15 and the first of its kind on the mainland – Derek Reid certainly looked at home among the national team managers from Australia, Argentina, England, France and New Zealand, all peers from his competitive years with the Australian team.

Derek Reid will manage Hong Kong’s Goldin Team, made up of Chilean polo champion Jose Donoso, Malaysian-Chinese banker Chevy Beh, who has a handicap of three, and Englishman John Fisher (pictured right), who is also the director of stable operations at the club.

Source: http://www.scmp.com (subscription may needed)

Eduardo Fagliano presenting a gift painting to Dato Beh Dec 2010 Argentina