FIP Xl POLO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 18-29 OCTOBER 2017
SNIPPETS AND UPDATES FROM SYDNEY
by Peter Hunter
An Official Jersey Handover will take place at 12pm on Wednesday, October 18 at Sydney Polo Club, Richmond, NSW. Federation of International Polo (FIP) officials, the captains from each of the international teams and the full Australian side will be present for interviews and photographs.
The Opening Matches are scheduled as follows:
Sat 21 Oct 1030 Argentina v USA 1430 Australia v Spain
Sun 22 Oct 1030 TBA 1430 TBA
The named squads have refined into Teams [ in bold where declared ] and coaches as follows
Argentina
Valentin Novillo Astrada (5), Hector Hernando Guerrero (5), Ivan Jose Maidonado Buteler (4), Tomas Panelo (3), Ignacio Bello (2), Lucio Fernandez Ocampo (2), Diego Braun (Coach)
USA
Jesse Bray (5), Carlos Arellano Jnr (5), Felipe Viana (5), Matias González (2), Daniel Galindo (2), Kenneth ‘Jimmy’ Wright (2)
Joel Baker (Coach) Robert Puetz (Manager)
Spain
Pelayo Berazadi Rozpide, (5) (Captain), Mario Gomez (4), Antonio Ayesa Guix (3), Jose Maria Trenor Lowenstein (2), Jaime Serra Diez (2)
Luis Benjumea Llorente (Manager) Benjamin Araya (Coach)
Australia
Jack Archibald (5) (Captain), Jake Daniels (4), James Lester (3), George Hill (2)
James Harper (Coach)
England
Satnam Dhillon (5) (Captain), Peter Webb (5), Josh Cork (2), Henry Porter (2)
Reserve Ed Banner Eve (2)
Adolfo Casabal (Coach/ Manager)
Chile
Jose Zegers (5), Jose Miguel Pereira Riesco (4), Ignacio Vial Mazieres (4), Antonio Eguiguren (4), Romano Vercellino (4), Andes Vial Pieres (3), Martin Arrau (2) , Jose Ignacio Martinez (2), Augustin Von Unger (2)
Martin Zegers (Coach) Alejandro Vial (Coach)
India
Col Ravi Rathore (5) (Manager & Captain), Dhruv Pal Godara (5), Angad Kalaan (4), Siddhant Sharma (3), HH Padmanabh Singh (2), Pranav Kapur (2)
Uday Kalaan (3) (Coach)
New Zealand
Glen Sherriff (5), Guy Higginson (5), Kit Brooks (5), Nick Keyte (4), Cody Forsyth (4) (Player & Coach), Henry Jones (3), Sam Martin (3), Mark Duncan (2), Jonny Jones (2), Adam Haworth (2)
Richard Hunt (Manager)
Team History and Previous success:
England, ranked 5th in the world, have never won the World Championships, but runner up in 1989 and 2004, receiving a bronze medal in 1992 and 1998.
England narrowly missed the top three in 1995, 2001 and 2015.
England play on Sunday 22nd, Wednesday 25th, Saturday 28th October and if in the top four, play on Sunday 29th October 2017.
The other 7 teams to qualify are starting to name their Teams:
Argentina qualified in eight out of 11 World Championships. Won in 1987, 1992, 1998 and 2011. Placed in 1989, 1995 and 2001.
Argentina plays on Saturday 21st, Tuesday 24th, Saturday 28th and if in the top four, play on Sunday 29th October 2017.
Australia have named Jack Archibald to be Captain of their Team and several more players to choose from.
Chile, the Holders, won last time in 2015 and in 2008.
Chile won the bronze in 2004, silver in 1992 and fourth place in 1989.
Chile plays Sunday 22nd, Wednesday 25th, Saturday 28th and if in the top four, play on Sunday 29th October 2017.
India play Sunday 22nd, Wednesday 25th, Saturday 28th and if in the top four, play on Sunday 29th October 2017.
Spain, ranked 9th in the world, came fourth in 1987 and in 2008.
Spain play Saturday 21st, Tuesday 24th, Saturday 28th and if in the top four, play on Sunday 29th October 2017.
New Zealand has qualified for the first time and play Sunday 22nd, Wednesday 25th, Saturday 28thand if in the top four, play on Sunday 29th October 2017.
The USA won in 1989 and were second in 2015, losing in overtime. In 1998, the 5th World Championships were held at Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club, California.
The USA play Saturday 21st, Tuesday 24th, Saturday 28th and if in the top four, play on Sunday 29th October 2017.