Cartier Queen’s Cup – Day 7
By Diana Butler
VPS Healthcare Sifani 9 – 8 Somerton Polo at Gadbridge Farm, Holyport
Hilali Noordeen and his VPS Healthcare Sifani team registered their first win in the 2015 Cartier Queen’s tournament thanks to a golden goal from the stick of Max Charlton. Unfortunately for Hilali the bad weather forced the cancellation of the live streaming of this match – the game was marred by heavy rain and strong winds. VPS Healthcare Sifani always knew this was going to be a difficult match – the all-pro Somerton Polo team had already shown their courage in a tough game against Dubai last weekend, but Sifani were leading 5-3 at half-time. Somerton got back into the game in the second half, not altogether surprising as these young British players are relishing the chance of playing 22-goal polo. Sifani still had a one goal advantage until deep into the sixth, when Richard Le Poer successfully converted a penalty. So with the scores reading 8-8 on the final bell, extra time was called for. Max Charlton, who has played well for Sifani during this tournament was determined that his team would go into next week’s knockout phase with a win under their belts and so produced the required golden goal. Now it is just a matter of wait and see who their opposition will be on either 2nd or 3rd June.
Salked 10 – 8 RH Polo at Guards Polo Club
Salkeld patron Nick Clarke, like Hilali Noordeen earlier in the day, will be glad to be heading into next week’s knockout phase with a victory under his team’s belts. They defeated RH Polo 10-8 at Guards Polo Club, played in warmer and drier temperatures, a sharp contrast to the morning’s weather in Holyport! Salkeld, featuring the former England captain Luke Tomlinson, were in command of this game throughout the six chukkas, leading 6-3 at the half-way point. It should be noted though that Ben Soleimani’s RH Polo team is making its debut in this year’s competition and although his players, based around the talented nine-goaler Nico Pieres, have experience at the top level, it invariably takes a season or two for a team to completely gel. That said, RH Polo has produced a solid set of results in all three of their league matches and with next week’s knockout phase still to come, there is definitely all to play for.
Saturday 30 May
Dubai Polo Team v King Power Foxes at 12 noon at Guards Polo Club
UAE Polo Team v HB Polo at 3pm at Guards Polo Club
· Please note that all the games will be live streamed courtesy of PoloCam Productions and Horseplay TV and can be viewed at www.guardspoloclub.com
· If you are watching the game you can pick up the commentary on your car radio at 90FM.
· You can watch all previous games at http://www.polocamproductions.com/#!guards-tv/czwm