Manipur, in the foothills of the Himalayas, has produced some of India's top athletes including champion boxer Mary Kom.
Even so, polo -- which resembles horseback field hockey, and whose Manipuri version, "Sagol Kangjei", is played with riders on indigenous ponies -- is usually viewed as a male-only sport in the state.
The game dates back centuries in Manipur, where it first came to the attention of British colonialists who formalized it as polo and spread it around the world.
The involvement of female players was intertwined with the survival of the ponies, which experts feared were on the brink of extinction.
The ponies were once worth next to nothing but as more women started playing, demand rose and their value increased.
Singh said some of the women have also become experts at caring for the animals and rescue them from accidents like falling into construction pits and drains.
