Fund raising for the Princess Mother’s Charities took place at the first beach polo tournament in the beautiful Hua Hin, Thailand recently, and marked yet another landmark in the development of the game in this part of the world.
The newly opened serene Intercontinental Resort Hua Hin and B Grimm co-sponsored a glorious festive anniversary as Hua Hin celebrated one hundred years, since being discovered in the early 1920’s as a tranquil fishing village. Where in 1928 the King built his Klai Kangwon Palace- the name means far from worries, which to this day remains a royal residence.
Over the years many prominent Thai families for generations have made their second home in Hua Hin, where the long sandy beach gives them a tranquil break away from Bangkok. With a tradition of being renowned for horses, the local children’s marching band led a full parade of over 100 horses through the whole village towards the beachfront of Intercontinental Resort where the tournament was opened by the mayor in front of the 200 seat grandstand overlooking the sea, as well the on looking crowd of over one thousand.
An array of dotted white tents were located on the beach for guests to socialize, whilst also offering many different Asian cuisine delicacies, a varied selection of delightful wines were offered by the local village vineyard, whilst specialized local Resort outlets served cooling smoothies. Dedicated tents especially for children’s beach games were also on hand. The day’s activities started with over fifty models, celebrities and many children of Thai prominent families who have been making their residence in Hua Hin for years, turning out in grand style showing the latest fashions on horseback from La Martina, Burberry, La Perla and Escada. This was followed by a fast and exciting horse race along the beach with 10 local riders competing whilst guests were invited to bet on the winner, which raised the most funds of the day in aid the Queens Mothers Charities.
As the main arena took centre stage to a stunning distant view of low rippling waves, local sailing boats and kite boards, the crowd were built up to the main event by a kids Beach Polo display. This was a wonderfully entertaining game which showed how continuous development is being made in the progress to form a Thai national polo team in the near future, and was a great success with the many on looking local village children.
The main tournament was a galloping three a side match which pitted Thai Polo, led by Father and Daughter team of Harald Link and the only female player in the tournament Caroline Link against Crown Prince Abdullah’s Royal Pahang which had flown in from Malaysia. Royal Pahang headed into the first chukka with a one goal handicap, they quickly gained an additional hat-trick of goals. Whilst Harald Link sent though the ball to open Thai Polo’s account, and the chukka ended 4-1 in favour of Royal Pahang.
The second chukka saw a superb back shot from Roddy Matthews to add to Thai Polo’s score. Then two magnificent goals from Royal Pahang, with Thai Polo following with two of their own. At the final bell Royal Pahang rode out the winners 6-4 of the exciting match up.
Crown Prince Abdullah presented the trophy to Quizier Ambak, captain of Royal Pahang. Whilst his team mate Syed Rahimi Jaafar took home the most valuable player award after scoring a total of 5 goals. The finale saw Quizier lead the victors in a lap of honour with Thai Polo following as the gallant runners up.
Throughout the match valuable commentary was provided by former England captain Andrew Hine, who had travelled up from Australia especially for the day’s events. Generous funds of US$ 24,000 were raised through the day in aid of the Queen Mothers, Charities.
As the sunset fell, a divine mixture of international and wonderful local barbecue dinner dishes was served on the exotic beachfront lawns of the Intercontinental Resort overlooking the Gulf of Siam, whilst Bangkok Symphony Orchestra played their delightful renditions to the guests appreciation. Led by several prominent English guests, many took to the beautifully manicured lawns to enjoy their own barbeque picnics whilst taking in the early evening breeze.
Teams:
Royal Pahang; Quzier Ambak,Tengku Hussin ,Syed Rahimi Jaafar.tq
Thai Polo: Harald Link, Caroline Link, Roddy Matthews