Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, originating as Chovgan (Persian: چوگان) in ancient Persia over 2,000 years ago, and later adopted by the Western world from its modern form developed in India.
Polo has been called "The Sport of Kings" and has become a spectator sport for equestrians and high society, often supported by sponsorship. The progenitor of polo and its variants existed from the 6th century BC to the 1st century AD, as an equestrian game played in Persia. From Iran, where the sport evolved and developed, the game became popular around the world, with well over 100 member countries in the Federation of International Polo, and is played professionally in 16 countries; it was also an Olympic sport from 1900 to 1936.