Rina Shah is India\’s first female polo player, as well as a shoe manufacturer, company owner, and DJ. She claims that if you find your calling, wealth and popularity will come naturally. Rina Shah became enamoured of polo after seeing a match in Mumbai in 2010. She expressed that she couldn\’t tear her gaze away from the galloping horses.
Rina decided to pursue polo professionally at the age of 38. It wasn\’t something women were known to dabble in, and her foray into the sport was unplanned. Rina had already developed her high-end footwear line Rinaldi Designs, with Naomi Campbell, Natalie Portman, Goldie Hawn, Rekha, Shilpa Shetty, and Kareena Kapoor Khan among her clients.
A shoe designer, a business owner, and DJ, Rina Shah is also India’s first woman polo player. She believes once you discover your passion, money, and success will follow
Rina has also found and qualified herself as one of the top ten DJs in Amsterdam\’s DJ School. She says that she always dreamt of playing a tough sport but polo never went through her mind. It was very unlikely for a woman in India to play polo. It took her almost a year to learn how to ride a horse. Further stating that she had to travel to Argentina, Santa Barbara and England to learn polo as there were no schools in India to teach it.
Rina admits that while she didn\’t face any overt stigma as one of the first women to join the equestrian sport, the room was male-dominated and presented its own set of challenges. She says that initially people tried to make fun of her but then she replied by conducting an all-girl polo match in Mumbai in 2019.
Rina worked all week in Mumbai and then went to Jaipur for the weekend to play and practice since she had to run Rinaldi Designs as well. She remembers it as a hectic time in her life.
She frequently recalled a moment when she fell off her horse during a race, injuring her back badly. It took months for me to get back on my feet. She went to England for a month to prepare until she was back on the horse.
Rina plans to play beach polo in Ibiza this year, and snow polo in St Moritz next year. She also has plans to launch a new fashion line, which is currently in the planning stages. She wants to launch her own techno drums after that.
