POLO AT THE PALACE

An ex-army officer finds new avenues to pursue his passions, polo and heritage resorts. It all comes together in a restored hillside fort palace and his own polo team

- ROHIT PARIHAR

In 2000, a few months after taking over as honorary secretary of the Rajasthan Polo Club in Jaipur, ex-army officer and polo player Vikram Singh Rathore helped organise the Polo World Cup qualifier in the city. The Indian polo team was the zonal champion that year. The years rolled on, but, in 2009, he had to quit the club to which he had dedicated his prime years. There was a battle for its control, in which Rathore found himself out of favour with the club patrons, the erstwhile royal family of Jaipur, making his exit inevitable. “In hindsight, it was a blessing in disguise. I looked back at my years with the army and thought, 'I'm still in my 40s, it's not too late to take a risk, set up own enterprise',” he says. Meanwhile, in 2011, he was appointed 'chef de mission' of the Indian polo team and helped it repeat the world cup zonal champion success story from the previous decade.