Extract from the Kindle book – Sports the Olympics Forgot
The first Tehran championships were played in 1936 and were won by the Communist Party team, whose horses were painted bright red. Their captain Mahmoud Ghadiri was proud of what this showed: “We play as a team, we play the socialist way, helping each other and supporting one another when the going becomes tough; the other teams rely on individual brilliance but our teamwork always overcomes this; our organization is excellent and everyone keeps a level head and knows their place and their role within the team.”
The Shah decided to enter a team in the following year’s championship but they were knocked out in the first round by the Worker’s Revolutionary Party team who took advantage of the laziness of the Shah’s team, who often waited too long to hit the ball believing that their servant should hit the ball for them instead. The Worker’s party reached the final but lost to the Communist Party team, who were subsequently invited to meet Stalin in Moscow.