2014 International Tang Invitational Polo Tournament & Anmar Memorial Polo Cup
It was a beautiful start to the 2014 Chinese polo season at the Tang Polo Club in Beijing, with a combination of the International Tang Invitational Polo Cup and the Anmar Memorial Polo Cub. The tournament was played over 2 days with 4 teams taking part.
The Teams:
Tang Polo Club (TPC) Pegasus
Liu ShiLai (0) Norman Peng (0)
Li XiangYang (0) Peng Peng (-1)
Xiao Li (-1) Apichet Srivaddhanaprabha (0)
Miguel Diaz (5) Matius Del Olmes (4)
Sprite Action (SA) MD
Windson Rao (-1) Huo Gang (0) / Tommy (4)
Li Bing (0) Li YanYang (0)
Chen MuQiao (0) Liu Nan/Norman Peng (0)
Tommy Martinez (4) Lu Wei (0)
The first four chukkas of the day were played between the SA and MD teams. As the total team handicap of the SA team was 4 goals, and only 0 goals for the MD team, the MD team was awarded 2 ½ extra goals at the beginning of the matches. The SA team dominated the first three chukkas with Windson scoring one goal, Tommy scoring two goals and MuQiao scoring one goal. Things changed quite a lot in the fourth chukka, with MD team’s Li YanYang and Nan both scoring one goal. At the end of the fourth chukka the score was MD with 4 ½ goals and SA with 4 goals, bringing team MD into the next day finals.
The next four chukkas were played between Tang Polo Club and Pegasus. The first two chukkas were quite even, with TPC’s Miguel Diaz and Liu ShiLai both scoring one goal, and Liu XiangYang scoring two goals. Team Pegasus was fighting hard and evened out the score in the third chukka with 4 goaler visiting pro Matius scoring two goals and Tang Polo Club’s youngest player Norman also scoring two goals. In the fourth chukka Norman scored a beautiful 60 yard penalty, however it wasn’t enough as Argentinean 5 goaler Miguel Diaz came back in the fourth chukka scoring 4 goals in a row. At the end of the fourth chukka the score stood at TPC with 9 goals and Pegasus with 5, bringing TPC into the next day finals to play against team MD.
Once again Beijing saw beautiful weather on the day of the finals, with a temperature of about 25 degrees and the sun shining, perfect weather for a day of polo. The teams were ready and eager to go, with the first four chukkas being played between Pegasus and Sprite Action for the 3rd and 4th place. All four chukkas were completely dominated by Father and Son Norman and Peng Peng playing for team Pegasus, with Peng Peng scoring an amazing 5 goals throughout the four chukkas, Norman scoring two and Apichet scoring two. Sprite Action started off a bit slow, however started to catch up in the end with Windson scoring two lovely goals, and Argentinian pro Tommy scoring three goals. At the end of the four chukkas, team Sprite Action came in 4th place, and Pegasus 3rd. After the impressive performance by Norman’s father Peng Peng on the second day of chukkas, he was rightfully awarded most valuable player.
Next up playing for 2nd and 1st place was Tang Polo Club against team MD. Team MD definitely put up a fight, but it wasn’t enough for Liu ShiLai’s TPC team. By the end of the second chukka, TPC was already winning 4 goals to 1, with Liu ShiLai scoring two amazing goals, each time taking the ball on his own from the through in, right the way to the goal. Miguel Diaz scored another two other goals. Team MD’s Li YanYang showed great improvement during the tournament, scoring two goals, and Argentinean Pro Tommy also scoring two goals. The score at the end of the finals was Tang Polo Club with 8 goals, and team MD with 4 goals.
Once again, the Tang Polo Club’s members have come back fighting strong after a few months of training and playing overseas. The level of speed, technique and skill shown in this tournament really showed off the improvement of Tang Polo Club’s members and the China polo scene in as a whole.