Chopard triumphed in Azerbaijan
Finally after three days of exciting polo, Team Chopard became the champion of the 2nd Grass Arena Polo World Cup Azerbaijan. The closing day once again opened with the vibrant horse acrobatics show that is now a tradition of this event.
After the acrobatics, Jan-Erik Franck announced that there was a prize of 100.000€: 50.000€ for the winner, 25.000€ for the second one, third place of 15.000€ and the fourth place would receive 10.000€. This had not been announced before, and left everyone, including the players, positively surprised.
The first game started, and no one could have imagined how it would turn out to be. The match began in favor for team Maserati, Satnam Dhillon scoring a great goal, but all of a sudden, Tahir Abdurrahmanov scored two goals, followed by Vugar Seyidov who scored one more, and then the young Elchin Jamalli scored twice. The audience was going crazy and there was no soul in the arena that was not standing and cheering for the Azerbaijani team, they had absolutely made the game theirs, and even though Pablo Miguens scored two goals for Maserati, Raul Laplacette Jr scored once again for Embawood A, and the match ended in 8-4, and Azerbaijan won the subsidiary final.
Following this the final match took off. Chopard and Baltika 7 were both very determined to take home the big prize. Lala Laplacette scored the first two opening goals of the match for Chopard, and the chukka ended on 2-0. Heinrich Dumrath made once again a stunning goal with a back hand shot, but Adrian was fast again and scored for Chopard, followed by another two goals for them by Simon Crotto. By the end of the second chukka, the score was 5-1 for the undefeated team Chopard. The third chukka’s first goal took little time to appear, as Baltika 7 scored a goal, and then Adrian did it again, scoring two more goals for the Argentinian team. Simon Crotto scored a new goal for Chopard, and Heinrich Dumrath once again proved he is one of the brightest young talents, scoring a goal for Baltika 7. Then he made a successful pass to Agustin Kronhaus, who managed to score another goal for the Europeans. About 20 seconds before the end of the last chukka, Chopard scored again, and then the bell rang, and team Chopard was the indisputable winner of the tournament by 9-4.
Adrian Laplacette Sr., head coach of the Azerbaijani team, commented about the results of the team’s hard work: “It was a very good game, they showed that they can really play. They proved that they had the passion and the will to play polo. One year ago, I would have never expected such outcome. They are very good riders and with Raul Laplacette as a good leader, the team gave great resultsâ€.
Embawood player Raul Laplacette Jr. was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, and Vugar Seyidov was awarded for his sportive behavior and fair play. Elchin Jamalli was proclaimed the Best Newcomer of the Polo Cup, and finally, the Argentinian pony Torreja received the prize as Baltika 7 Best Playing Pony .
After the successful debut of the Azerbaijani Polo Team, Bahruz Nabiyev, the Secretary General of the Equestrian Federation of Azerbaijan, confirmed that the whole Azerbaijani team would travel to Argentina to get further training. These men, once Chovgan players, would have never imagined that they would cross the ocean to consolidate their polo training. A surprise, and an amazing opportunity for these six sportsmen.
The event was sold out on all three days with over 15.000 visitors. Due to the success of the event, Reto Gaudenzi, President of World Polo GmbH, already confirmed that next year there will be a new edition of the tournament. The 2nd Grass Arena Polo World Cup was an utter success, as it has not only made possible for these men to develop a polo career, but has proved, one more time, that POLO IS HOME!
The Teams:
Team Baltika 7+ (From Europe)
Heinrich Dumrath (D)
Agustin Kronhaus (ARG)
Thomas Winter (D)
Team Maserati (From USA)
Pablo Miguens (ARG)
Tito Gaudenzi (USA)
Satnam Dhillon (GB)
Team Chopard (From Argentina)
Andres Laplacette (ARG)
Simon Crotto (ARG)
Adrian Laplacette Jr. (ARG)
Team Embawood A (From Azerbaijan)
Seyidov Vugar Gasim (AZ)
Jamalli Elchin Shahin (AZ)
Hasanov Rashad Khosrov (AZ)
Raul Laplacette Jr. (ARG)
Team Embawood B (From Azerbaijan)
Abdurahmanov Khayal Shamil (AZ)
Abdurahmanov Tahir Shamil (AZ)
Atayev Sameddin Nuraddin (AZ)
Polo Speakers: Jan-Erik Franck and Ilgar Quliyev
FIP Head Umpire: Marcelo Garrahan
Ball Umpire: Antonio d’Aurelio
Time Keeper: Christian Dunkelberg
Score Board: Elmar Balster
Polo DJ: Ray Douglas