Sagol Kangjei: a game played sitting on ponies holding with a hockey stick of having a long slender embedded with a mallet at one end, is one of the richest heritage games of Manipur. It was popularly played as a pastime game or side by side as a martial drill of the Manipuris particularly during those days of state formation. Surely, those unknown patriarchs never knew that the game of Sagol Kangjei which has been modified by the Britishers under the nomenclature of Polo is going to be a precious gift to the world. Its uniqueness lies where prefect coordination is the absolute need between two exclusive species, the human being and the animal i.e. ponies, where both require the inherent characteristics of strength, sturdiness and dexterity.

It is believed that Sagol Kangjei, the traditional polo of Manipur was first introduced during the time of King Kangba who reigned in Manipur by making his capital at Kangmong village, about 16 kms from Imphal towards Tiddim Road much before the emergence of Christian era. Meitei mythologies often narrate that the ancestors of the Meiteis and certain Sylvan deities such as Marjing, Thanging, Wangbren, Koubru, Nogpok Ningthou, Ekop Ningthou etc. representing different principalities played Sagol Kangjei regularly. Elements of Sagol Kangjei are found often webbed into certain ritual fabrics of Meitei culture.

Regular play of Sagol Kangjei is believed to have started since the reign of Nongda Lairen Pakhangba in 33 A.D. on the first Saturday of the month of Lamta (March) as a part of ceremony of formal introduction of his queen Laisana to the Sylvan deities and local chiefs.

T.C. Hodson, a British scholar and the author of the popular book the Meitheis refers that polo was played during the reign of King Khangemba (1597-1652). The Encyclopaedia Britannica records that the English game of polo was introduced from Manipur where it forms a great national past.