Argentine woman riding high in macho polo world

Buenos Aires (AFP) – By the time she was four, Lia Salvo had learned to ride. By 11, she could hit a ball with a polo mallet on horseback.

Now 29, she has cleared a greater hurdle, cantering into the male world of professional polo in her native Argentina.

In September, Salvo became the first woman to play in the prestigious Jockey Club Open tournament in Buenos Aires.

She won the competition as part of a team alongside male champions including the king of polo, world number one Adolfo Cambiaso.

Salvo spent a decade playing in Britain and the United States — the top countries in the world for women’s polo.

Now she wants to make Argentina a force in the women’s game too.

“Polo in Argentina is very sexist, more so than in any other country,” she told AFP, dismounting after winning a women’s match at the La Aguada club west of Buenos Aires.

“In Argentina we have the best male polo scene in the world by far. I don’t understand why our women are not number one too.”

– Competing with US, England –

Polo was introduced to Argentina by British settlers in the 19th century and thrived among the native “gauchos” — the expert horsemen of the plains.

Now Argentina rules international polo — it is the native home of all of the top five ranked players in the world.

But there are only about 460 women players registered in the country. A tenth of the number of men in the game.

“In Britain and the United States there are lots of good women polo players,” she says.

“Clearly those societies are much more open and have given women a chance sooner than they have here.”

Salvo wants to use the power of her excellent nine-goal women’s handicap rating to help push for change.

In November, she led an Argentine women’s team to a 13-3 victory over England in Buenos Aires at the posh Palermo club — the mecca of world polo.

In that victory, Cambiaso’s own teenage daughter Mia played.

“My dream is to stage a women’s open at Palermo,” Adolfo Cambiaso told AFP. 

“There would be six, seven or eight teams of the best women players in the world.”

Lia has set the ball rolling, he says.

“When they understand that polo can be a profession that can earn you a living, then there will be much more girls playing,” he said.

“Five years from now,” Salvo added, “Argentina could have a great women’s team to compete as equals or even play better than those US and England sides.”

– Family business –

Like the country’s lucrative bloodstock trade, polo is a family business in Argentina.

Three years ago Lia Salvo joined the El Paso Polo Ranch club founded by her uncle, the champion show jumper Jose Luis Salvo.

“What makes Lia so good is her professionalism,” said Cambiaso. “She dedicates herself 100 percent.”

Her parents wanted her to study but she insisted she could earn a living from polo and went on to secure playing contracts abroad.

“Once you know how to ride, the feeling of hitting the ball is very addictive,” she says.

At the Paso Polo Ranch, she plays in mixed team tournaments and also as the only woman team member in men’s tournaments.

“Playing at the Jockey Club really marked my professional career,” she said. “It was a luxury.”