Polo Debuts at Police Biennial Games'2013

History has been made as the king of games; polo makes its much awaited debut as a non scoring event at the 2013 Police Biennial Games that opens with fanfare in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

Tagged Rivers’2013, the Police Games which was last staged in Lagos in 2008, was a huge success as the noble games joins other sporting events to light up the prestigious festival which is revered for its robust competitions and sportsmanship.

Thanks to personal commitment of the Inspector General of Police, M.D Abubakar, the aristocratic game that celebrated its centenary in the country some years back, was the biggest attraction of the weeklong Police sporting fiesta.

Encouraged by the success story of the IGP Strikers Polo team at the national level IGP Abubakar, who is one of the biggest benefactors of the ancient game in the country, is committed to making polo one of the scoring events at subsequence editions of the Police Biennial Games.

The decision to admit polo into the mainstream of the Police Games, is in keeping with the much cherish tradition of the Nigerian Police Force which has remain in the forefront of sports promotion both locally and internationally.

To celebrate the long awaited arrival of the king of games into the Police Games’ sporting mainstream, a special tournament was hosted by the Port Harcourt Polo Club under the auspices of the Police Games Committee, with the support of the Rivers State Governor and Nigeria Polo Federation (NPF).

The inaugural event which was also supported by, corporate firms, individuals and other states in the Niger Delta region, attracted over seven teams from major polo centres across the country, which vied for three major trophies at stake during the weeklong event.

That groundbreaking debut in the Garden City with all the big polo patrons participating was a confirmed demonstration of what to expect in the next Police Games, when polo joins other events to light up the festival as a scoring event.

President of Nigerian Polo Federation (NPF) Francis Ogboro who hailed the inclusion of polo in the Biennial Police Games, said the vision of IGP Abubakar who has been engaged on several occasions about taking polo to the next level, was in line with what  national polo authority is  aspiring to achieve.

“This is in furtherance to our resolves to identify with the efforts of the Police Force and in solidarity with our amicable IGP, MD Abubakar, a complete gentleman, an exemplary leader and a great polo supporter and promoter,” Ogboro added.

Chief Superintendent of Police, Aliyu Abubakar, who re-launched the Police team to national limelight four years ago, led the IGP Strikers to the Port Harcourt battle, while other teams featuring big names came from Kaduna, Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt, for the Police Games debut.

“Thanks to the keen interest of our Patron (The IGP), today we are all happy that polo is in the main stream of Nigerian Police Biennial Games like it did some years back at the National Sports festival. This is one of the greatest moments in my life and the biggest honour to the Nigerian Police Force and the country at large,” the elated CSP added.

CSP Abubakar who is the chairman and Captain of the Police polo team said with the debut of polo efforts are on to establish polo teams in all the twelve Police Zones across the country, with the aim of ensuring that polo would be the biggest attraction at the next edition of the Games.