Desert Palm ride to victory in the HH President of the UAE Polo Cup Final
By Victoria Elsbury-Legg
Over the last two weeks the 15th HH President of the UAE Polo Cup has been taking place at the Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Falah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Club. Internationally recognised as an 18 goal tournament, this year the ten teams from UAE and Saudi Arabia competing for the trophy were: Mahra, Al Habtoor, Abu Dhabi, UAE Polo, Desert Palm 1 (the 2014 title holders), Desert Palm 2, Edrees Saudi team, Zedan Saudi team, Bin Drai, and hosts, the Ghantoot team.
Play commenced on 6th January, with the Final being played on 16th January between UAE’s Desert Palm 1 (Rashid Albwardy, Martin Valent, Santiago Laborde, Facundo Castagnola) and the Zedan Saudi team (Amr Zedan, Martin Gandara, Facundo Fernandez Llorente, Pablo McDonough) at the Zayed Main Stadium. Amongst the VIP guests watching the game were Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Sultan bin Shakhboot AlNahyan, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Mohammed bin Khalid Al Nahyan, H.E. Saeed Bin Houfan AlMansouri, the Club’s Vice-Chairman, alongside Managing Director, Ahmed AlNuaimi.
Putting the first score on the board from a 40 yard penalty for Desert Palm 1 two minutes into the game was Santiago Laborde, but by half time Zedan were leading 5-2. By the end of the fourth chukka through tactically employing great defensive play, Desert Palm 1 were back in the game bringing the score to a tiebreak at 7 all. There followed an exciting fifth chukka with Desert Palm 1 leading 10-7, but Zedan were not out of the game as they scored two quick goals to bring the score back to a closer 9 goals to 10. Despite great play from team Zedan throughout the match they were not able to defeat the defending champions Desert Palm 1 who rode off the ground the winners with a scoreboard reading 10 -9.
Following the polo action a closing ceremony featured many visual delights including shows from schools, Abu Dhabi Police in their state of the art security cars, and above-the-pitch action in a colourful air show by the UAE Aerobatics Team Al Fursan (The Knights) who lit up the skies with the colours of the flag of the UAE, with all the action on, off and above the pitch being captured on film by Polocam (www.polocamproductions.com ).
Teams:
Desert Palm 2: Tariq Albwardy, Tom Brodie, Diego Cavanagh, Matias Torres Zavaleta
Desert Palm 1: Rashid Albwardy, Martin Valent, Santiago Laborde, Facundo Castagnola
Edrees: Sultan Edrees, Juan Pedro Chavanne, Juan Ruiz Guinazu, Pierre Henri H’Goumou
Zedan: Amr Zedan, Martin Gandara, Facundo Fernandez Llorente, Pablo McDonough
Abu Dhabi: Faris Al Yabhouni, Alfredo Capela, Hugo Barabucci, Felipe Martinez Ferrario
Bin Drai: Saeed Bin Drai, Agustin Canale, Manuel Fernandez Llorente, Raul La Placette
Mahra: Rashid Al Habtoor, Guy Gibrat, Ignacio Gonzalez, Marcos Araya
Habtoor: Ahmed Al Habtoor, Guillermo Cutino, Santiago Cernadas, Martin Irurraspe
Ghantoot: Ali Almerri, Felipe Llorente, Juan Martin Zavaleta, Alejandro Muzzio
UAE: Sheikha Maitha Bin Mohammed, Lucas Monteverde, Santiago Stirling, Nacho Acuna