Feb 21, 2017 6:01 PM
Oak Brook Polo Club, located in Oak Brook, Illinois, has a long history of welcoming teams from other countries and participating in friendly matches and tournaments abroad. For the first time in over thirty years, the Oak Brook Polo Team will travel halfway around the world to compete in a series of arena polo matches in Delhi and Anandpur Sahib, a city in the state of Punjab, India. The three-man team will depart for “The Holy City of Bliss”—one of the Sikh’s most important sacred places—on March 6 to face the Delhi Polo Club and other Indian teams and players in competitions March 10-12, including the Sodhi Kishan Singh Memorial Polo Cup.
Chicago’s Polo Team will be represented in India by two club team favorites: captain Horacio Onetto (6), Tomas “Toto” Obregon (4) and newcomer and rising star Derek Berg (1).
Since 2015, the Oak Brook Polo Club has welcomed the Delhi Polo Club to the United States along with team captain and patron, Vikram Singh Sodhi, managing trustee of the Anandpur Sahib Heritage Foundation and owner of the Delhi Polo & Riding Club.
“After two seasons of hosting the Delhi Polo Club at Oak Brook, we have accepted their invitation to play in India with much enthusiasm and excitement,” explained President of Oak Brook Polo Club James Drury. “We are sending three of Oak Brook Polo’s best players to participate. Vikram Singh Sodhi has become a dear friend to the Village of Oak Brook; we are honored to reciprocate the relationship and are grateful for his generous hospitality.”
Match activities will take place during India’s Hola Mohalla Festival, an annual Sikh event to fortify the Sikh community by carrying out martial training and mock-drills along with religious discussions. During the evenings, martial members display their physical strength through daring acts such as mock-battles, sword-fighting displays, archery and exercising on speeding horses. Hola Mohalla is the time to celebrate and dedicate oneself into community service. The Sodhi Kisham Singh Memorial Polo is one of the many horse-related activities and demonstrations to take place during the festival.
The Oak Brook Polo Club was once an ambassador to the sport of polo in the United States and frequently traveled internationally to compete in countries such as Mexico, England, India, Italy, Jamaica and Ireland just to name a few.
The Delhi Polo Club has been invited back to Oak Brook for a third straight year to compete in the 2017 season’s Butler Challenge Cup on Sunday, August 20. On that same date, Reute Butler, granddaughter of Paul Butler, and her mother Jorie Butler Kent will be hosting a luncheon and fundraiser for the Friends of Conservation.
Effective Date: Saturday, May 16, 2020
The suspension of USPA Tournaments and Events will be lifted for USPA Member Clubs in locales where hosting polo matches and tournaments is permitted under applicable state and local laws, executive orders and similar decrees. The USPA Member Clubs in these locales are encouraged to follow all such requirements of their state and local authorities with respect to polo operations. In addition, we also encourage all USPA Member Clubs to take the precautions recommended by the CDC. We are preparing a detailed list of best practices for USPA Member Clubs as they return to hosting USPA Tournaments and Events and plan to circulate these guidelines within the next week. We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely and will notify you if we determine a different course of action is necessary.
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