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Above: Sonia Kaur Dhillon Marty. Below: photo, courtesy - Polo Club Saint-Tropez.

Sports

The Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Polo Cup:
At The Polo Club Saint-Tropez,
Gassin, France

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Maharaja Ranjit Singh Polo Cup
Franco-Punjabi Alliance
August 20 -30, 2015




A two-week long polo tournament -- The Maharaja Ranjit Singh Polo Cup -- has been scheduled for August 20 - 30, 2015 to be held at the world-renowned Polo Club Saint Tropez in the Town of Gassin, located between the Town of Saint-Tropez and the beaches of Pampelonne … on the French Riviera, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of south-eastern France

The Polo Club Saint-Tropez is listed on the international circuit and is a prestigious meeting ground of the best international players of the sport.

A formal Koh-i-Noor Gala Dinner will be held on August 29. The tournament will conclude with the final match on August 30, followed by the Award Ceremony and Reception.

The trophies, as well as a sculpture to be installed in town to commemorate the event and honour Ranjit Singh, the 19th Century Emperor of Punjab, and his French General, Jean Francois Allard’s service as the head of Cavalry of the Sikh Kingdom’s forces, have been commissioned for design by the famous Japanese architect, Kengo Kuma.

The themes being inculcated in the design are Ranjit Singh’s values of equality and secularism, which are shared by the French Republic, and are to celebrate and further enrich the historic ties shared by the Sikhs and the French in Punjab’s history and heritage. The inscriptions will be in French, Punjabi (in both Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi scripts), and English

The series of events are designed to celebrate the historical Franco-Punjabi Alliance by touching on, inter alia, the life and times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the role of General Allard, the former’s love for horses, and the saga of the Koh-i-Noor. 

The sculpture, titled “5 Riveres de Egalite” will be installed next year at a location to be finalized in Saint Tropez.

This year, however, a horse parade will launch the Polo Tournament.

The event is being organized by the Dhillon Marty Foundation, which is based in Tokyo, Paris and Portola Valley, and is being headed by Sonia Kaur Dhillon Marty.

The Foundation is active in the area of social activism through art, architecture, design, sporting events, sustainable farming and technology, to cultivate civil engagement for global impact.

Ms Dhillon Marty is International Research Fellow, The University of Tokyo, Japan; President of Dhillon Marty Inc., and a humanitarian, artist, curator, writer, business strategy consultant and entrepreneur who founded the Dhillon Marty Foundation.

A global citizen, she splits her time between Tokyo, Paris, Punjab, and Portola Valley, California. While her Foundation engages in social activism through public art and social enterprising projects by engaging international universities, her company helps its clientele develop new international markets and find local partners, conduct feasibility studies and conduct ongoing training and consultation to effectively develop their new market.

Ms Dhillon Marty has held positions at Deloitte Touche and Tohmatsu, one of the largest accounting firms in the world, and Cisco Systems, where she was involved in the early business development and financial management of the network technology company.

Amongst the various positions she currently holds in the corporate world, as well as in the realm of philanthropy and social activism, she also serves on the advisory boards of Anandpur Sahib Heritage Foundation, and the architecture programs at Stanford and Tokyo Universities.

The Maharaja Ranjit Singh Polo Cup and all the events relating to it, are being planned to constitute an annual event.


June 29, 2015

Conversation about this article

1: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumper, Malaysia), June 29, 2015, 8:09 PM.

This is rightly titled after Maharaja Ranjit Singh's name considering the love of horses he had. Among them Leila was legendary. He adorned her with the Kohinoor diamond on many an important occasion. I am not sure if the British Queen or Princess Kate knows, Leili the horse, for one, used to wear the Koh-i-Noor before them.

2: Hardev Singh Thethy (Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada), June 30, 2015, 12:20 AM.

With this praiseworthy initiative, and hopefully more in the future, Sikhs must also project their supreme sacrifice for France in the World Wars. Hopefully the French will realize the banality of denying the Turban its place in French schools and other areas.

3: Banno Kaur (Birmingham, United Kingdom), June 30, 2015, 11:36 AM.

What a wonderful initiative! Innovative, celebratory, bridge-building ... and a lot of fun! Good for you, Sonia! Hope others will follow your lead in pursuing new and meaningful ideas such as yours. And thanks from us all around the globe ...

4: Kirtan Singh (Chandigarh, Punjab), June 30, 2015, 11:55 AM.

Saint-Tropez is one of the poshest communities in the world. Indeed, we need to tell our stories to those amongst whom we live, no matter where our home is -- big or small, rich or poor. I laud Sonia Kaur for this extraordinary project.

5: Kaala Singh (India), July 01, 2015, 12:42 AM.

While we rub shoulders with the French elite, we need to make them aware that Sikhs played a huge role in liberating their country from the Nazis and they need to be a little more considerate while banning turbans in schools, etc.

6: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), July 02, 2015, 10:32 PM.

Brilliant! And very poignant for my humble self when there's any news or article about The Lion Of Punjab, Ranjit Singh, because this extraordinary man officially honoured my great forefather, for his services to the Khalsa Armies.

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Polo Cup:
At The Polo Club Saint-Tropez,
Gassin, France "









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