The Nigerian National Polo Tour that galloped off with fanfare and pomp at the prestigious Niger Delta Polo festival in Port Harcourt last January has taken a deserved break till May.
The break period will afford polo clubs like Ibadan, Abuja and Fifth Chukker Polo & Country Resort in Kaduna the needed time to perfect their preparations ahead of their 2024 tournaments and UNICEF/ Access Bank Charity Shield respectively.
Reputed for its cutting edge competition, the national tour which took the cream of Nigerian polo stars and their foreign counterparts through Kano, Katsina, Argungu, Bauchi, Yola, Kaduna, Abuja, Jos and Port Harcourt, before making a splashing landfall in Lagos February, where the king of sports was first played way back in 1904.
The recently concluded 2024 for the Lagos International Polo Tournament where a record 39 teams fortified with foreign professionals and the best of Nigerian stars jostle for honours, was the last event on the southern leg of the tour, before the tour heads for its savanna season.
Spread over four weeks of high octane polo, the prestigious fiesta reputed as the biggest polo festival in Africa packs punches as Leighton Kings team led the Lagos race for glory, winning three out of the four major trophies at stake in a dominating campaign that celebrated the 120 year of polo in Lagos.
While the tour lasted, the game of royalties and societal affluence did make some startling in-roads as one of the biggest corporate sports in the country, drawing new followers in their droves and adding a few new tournaments along the road.
