The ponies bash into one another, muscling each other off the line of the ball, snorting and kicking up snow. The riders lean low off their saddles, mallets clacking. One player gets control and gallops forward, whacking the ball through the goalposts. The commentators erupt in excited shouts – not in German or French as at St Moritz or Courchevel, but in English and Putonghua: we are in Tianjin municipality in the north watching Asia’s first snow polo competition.

The six-day Snow Polo Challenge at the 1.6 billion yuan (HK$1.9 billion) Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club last month was designed to raise awareness of the sport. (more…)