P
olo has its fair share of personalities. Many are hard working,
some are interesting, and a few are funny. Dato’ Beh Chun
Chuan, founder and chairman of BP Healthcare Group and
owner of BP Polo Club in Malaysia, is all three. A quick chat with
him on the sidelines will leave you in stitches, and his views on polo
will certainly get you thinking. But his notion of family and
discipline is perhaps what is most admirable of all.
Having learnt to ride at the late age of 30, Dato’ Beh was keen to
get his sons and daughter involved in the game as soon as possible.
‘I started playing polo in the late 1980s in Malaysia, almost 30 years
ago,’ he says. ‘A customer of mine invited me to support the club and
from there I got an interest in riding and signed up for a two-week
course. Before I completed it, I was invited to play chukkas, and you
can imagine the passion I had to join them. Luckily, I survived.
Imagine how desperately the club needed more new players. Myself,
my daughter Lovy, and my son Chevy, all learnt at the same time. My
other sons Joevy and Garvy started riding when they were four and
two, respectively. I then bought some small horses from Argentina
and the kids started playing the Copa Potrillos there. After that, all
my kids became addicted to polo and Argentina.’
From then on, the Beh family has travelled the world competing
in tournaments together. For Dato’ Beh, family and polo are
inextricably linked. ‘My most memorable polo match was in St
Moritz, in January 2017,’ he says. ‘We had played snow polo in
Tianjin, China, and Aspen, Colorado, but not St Moritz. I played
with my three boys, and my daughter as a reserve. My wife was also
there supporting.’ The highlight of the tournament? The post-match
buzz. ‘The best thing about polo is that after the game we talk
rubbish, we drink, we talk about controlling the world, and we say
bad things about everyone’s president. In St Moritz, the community
becomes part of the game. We came last in the tournament, but we
enjoyed it so much as a family.’
Dato’ Beh is very much a family man, but don’t be fooled into
thinking he doesn’t hold his own on the polo field. ‘I am very
competitive. Now that I am 61 I try to slow down, but when I get
out on the field I forget my age. They always say that I seem to be
18 inside. Polo is something that you continue seeking to be better
at everyday. Learning the skills is never-ending, there is always
something you haven’t accomplished – that is why I love polo.
I still want to continue improving everyday. But my eldest son keeps
trying to change my mindset and convince me that polo is not about
winning with friends. When you want to win, you have no friends!
Now I try not to think about winning but about having fun.’
While he loves the kick of competitive polo, Dato’ Beh admits
that the sport as a whole is not quite as enjoyable as it once was. ‘Polo
has improved so much, but that drives up the cost. Before, polo was
fun, but today the standard is so high. Patrons pay so much that they
don’t have fun and that is where the polo dilemma is. My friends in
the Gold Cup and Queen’s Cup always invite me to play, but I watch
I E N J O Y I MP R O V I N G M Y S E L F ,
WH E R E V E R T H E R E I S A N
I N V I TAT I O N T O P L AY, I W I L L G O
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