9th Valartis Group Snow Arena Polo World Cup

13th of January - 16th of January 2011

Kitzbühel is again starting the year with an action-packed snow show: preparations for the 9th Valartis Group Snow Arena Polo World Cup are gathering speed. The Polo horses will spend 3 days galloping around the Münichauer Wiese showground just outside of Kitzbühel. Enjoy free entry to this exclusive world class event from 13 to 16 January 2011!

The event will officially open on the Thursday. The ‘Polo Parade’ will take place from 17:00 in the centre of Kitzbühel with the official presentation of the teams and sponsors. The participants will be taken through the city centre in horse-drawn carriages and on to the stage at the ‘Hotel zur Tenne’.

Then it’s all about sport from Friday to Sunday. In the morning, the action-packed games begin at the Münichauer Wiese in Reith bei Kitzbühel. Guests and locals are invited to come and learn about this sport, enjoying free entry to the event.

Polo is a team sport with 4 players per team on horse-back. The aim is to use a long wooden stick to hit a 7-8 cm ball weighing 130 grams into their opponent’s goal. Each player wears a polo helmet and face mask for protection and changes between several horses during the game so as not to overtire the animals. Polo has caused a stir in the German-speaking countries through the participation of royal players such as Prince Charles. It is not without good reason that polo is known as the ‘game of kings’.

Polo dates back to Ancient Persia in around 600 BC. It then spread to Arabia and India during the Islamic expansion. English cavalier officers stationed in India then brought polo to Great Britain in the 19th century and then to South America.