Team Corum wins in Kitzbühel with one of the best results ever
As good as it can be. In a fast final Patrick Maleitzke, Philip Sommer and Lukas Sdrenka won the 15th CORUM Snow Polo World Cup Kitzbühel by a superior 12.5-6. Though the Irish team Engel & Völkers, including Richard Fagan (Most Valuable Player), Michael Henderson and Santiago Torreguitar, won their two respective matches in the preliminary round, in the final there was no doubt which team was way out in front of the other in terms of speed, tactics and not least because of owning faster horses. Right from the start playmaker Patrick Maleitzke and his strong team mates kept the speed high to give their opponent from the Emerald Isle no chance. Before the final David Traxler, CEO of the Swiss watch manufacturer Corum, was confident and put his complete trust in his team, though it started with a lower team handicap on paper than their opponent and with 0.5 goal advance. With reason. According to the old saying by Caesar “Veni, vidi, vici”, Patrick Maleitzke also announced to play for victory in Kitzbühel. Team Corum accompanied the path to winning the tournament by a goal balance, which should be among the best results ever achieved in Kitzbühel (10-2,7-1, 12.5-6).
Maleitzke’s fast 15-year old mare Traviesa, who will be kept for breeding and will retire starting this spring, was named “Best Playing Pony”. In 2017 Maleitzke will once again organise 6-7 own tournaments at his polo stud farm in Mühlen and will play at numerous medium and high goal tournaments in Europe.
Before the final match, team Maserati, including Thomas Winter, Tim Ward and team captain Marc Aberle, and team Corestate with team captain Sebastian Schneberger, Philip de Groot and “the machine” Valentin Novillo Astrada from Argentina faced each other in the match for 3rd place and for the “Kitzbühel Country Club Trophy”. The “Maseratis” from Hamburg and the “three-nations-team” Corestate did not give away anything for free and finally parted by 7.5-9 for Corestate. Team Valartis Bank with Tito Gaudenzi, Omar Magalji and Pelon Escapite, the 7-goaler from the USA, was placed fifth. They defeated team Bernd Gruber, including team captain Steffi von Pock, Dutchman Martijn van Scherpenzeel and Robert Watson from New Zealand by 10-6.
Before the event, Tito Gaudenzi, organiser of the Snow Polo World Cup in Kitzbühel, announced to set new standards this year. He managed to do this. International polo teams, top-class matches and a glamorous Players’ Party on Saturday evening, including several hundred VIP guests and numerous celebrities raised the snow chukkas in Kitzbühel to a completely new level. “We are very thankful that we achieved this ambitious goal and are very grateful to our long-standing partners and new team sponsors and friends. In the future, the Snow Polo World Cup will stay being one of the highlights in the event calendar of Kitzbühel.” This year Gaudenzi was also able to realise his long-held vision of founding the Kitzbühel Polo Club. The club was officially inaugurated and presented on Friday evening at the Kitzbühel Country Club.
This was also confirmed by Dr. Andreas Insam, CEO of Valartis Bank: “15 years in Kitzbühel with a fantastic support of the tourism association and the town commune of Kitzbühel are a valuable foundation for the upcoming years. Our corporation was represented here by two teams. The watch brand CORUM Watches and the private bank from Liechtenstein. The event is a mutual platform which will certainly prove successful during the next years, as we focus on an identical target group of customers. Our 280 invited customers hope to be part again next year. We look forward to 2018 – again in the role of the main sponsor.”
Not only the main sponsor of the event, Dr. Insam, founder and CEO of the Valartis Bank from Liechtenstein, but also the other five team sponsors of this year’s event have already confirmed their cooperation for the Snow Polo World Cup Kitzbühel in 2018! .