While polo is generally believed to be an upper class male preserve in India and elsewhere, the Tata Trusts are supporting a program that aims at popularizing the sport among women in Manipur, the northeastern hill state. Called Grassroots Development of Women in Polo in Manipur, under the three-year-long program, master trainers will select young girls with aptitude and talent to be trained in the sport. The thrust of the program is to "preserve and revive Manipuri polo culture,” according to an article in the April 2019 issue of Hope-scape, the newsletter of the Trusts. Of the 38 women between the ages of 15 and 30 who underwent trials involving physical, medical and technical rounds in July 2018, 21 were selected for the program, noted the newsletter.
Victoria Oinam, one of the selected women, was quoted as saying, "Experiencing horsemanship and learning to master the art has made me much more confident as a person, even when I’m not on a pony.” The newsletter noted that the ultimate goal of the program and its trainers is to help Manipur become, once again, the powerhouse of the Indian polo circuit. Another stated aim is to ensure the participants in the program "climb the international ladder to match the mettle of teams like the UK and the US, countries who, technically, picked up the sport from Indian, specifically, Manipuri polo players.”
The newsletter notes that the world’s oldest polo ground, Mapal Kangjeibung, is located in Manipur. The sport traverses social classes in the hill state. "Almost every family n Manipur owned a ‘Manipur pony,’ long considered the world’s original polo pony,” said the article.