The Inaugural Fortune Heights National Cup Gets Underway at Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club
A blustery October day at the Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club marked the opening matches of the first ever Fortune Heights National Cup, featuring four professional teams hailing from Malaysia, Shanghai and Tianjin.
General Manager of the Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club, Mr. Domenico Palumbo, got the festivities underway, welcoming the teams at the Opening Ceremony and expressing his wish that this all-new 10-12 goal competition will become a regular and much heralded fixture at the Club.
The first match of the day saw Fast Fish, an experienced polo team from Shanghai, take on Tianjin’s own Wahaha over four chukkas. In the saddle for Fast Fish, sporting dark blue jerseys, were Windson Rao, Rodrigo Bauzada, Guy Gibrat, and John Fisher. Chinese national Windsao Rao, ranked 0 goals and the patron of Fast Fish, played yesterday in the Chinese Challenge for Metropolitan Polo Club, narrowly losing that match. John Fisher was umpire then; today the experienced British player and Director of Stable Operations at Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club was taking the number four spot for Fast Fish.
Their opponents were Wahaha, the official water supplier of Metropolitan Polo Club. Wearing the yellow jerseys of Wahaha were Claudio Barrientos, Agustin Burmann, Fernando Erreguerena, and Agustin Calvo.
It was a feisty start for both teams, with Wahaha having the benefit of a 1.5 goal cushion to reflect their two goal handicap deficit. A penalty miss by John Fisher of Fast Fish was all that separated the sides halfway through the chukka, but eventually the pressure told, Fisher making no mistake a second time from the spot to put Fast Fish into the lead.
With just half a point separating the sides, neither team looked more dominant than the other as the second chukka progressed. Chances were squandered by both sides, with accuracy in short supply, but John Fisher eventually found the goal to put his side ahead. And that proved the spark that ignited Fast Fish into life, a splendid charge spearheaded by Guy Gibrat capped off by a neat strike off the stick of John Fisher to make it three for the team in dark blue.
After the traditional half-time treading in of the divots, play resumed. The first half had yielded only two goals from open play, but the match was starting to stretch, Guy Gibrat galloping the length of the field for Fast Fish but unable to steer his shot home. It didn’t matter; within two minutes the Shanghai side had added to their tally, John Fisher latching on to a looping pass to roll it home. Wahaha responded almost immediately, Agustin Burmann galloping it between the posts. Fast Fish proceeded to camp out in the Wahaha goal for most of the rest of the half, their persistence finally rewarded with Guy Gibrat’s first goal of the game.
The ever-reliable John Fisher added another to his side’s tally halfway through the final chukka, Wahaha with it all to do. But like their nautical namesake, Fast Fish swam on relentlessly, fierce as a shark and slippery as a squid. And then Wahaha were sunk, Fisher this time smashing in two more goals, the second of which was a stunning hit from range to seal the match. Final score: Fast Fish 8,Wahaha 2.5.
The second contest of the day saw Axus, another Shanghai side, take on Bookdoc from Malaysia. In the saddle for team Axus, clad in red, were Brian Xu, Ignacio Kennedy, Diego Gomez, and Dario Musso. For Bookdoc, wearing grey and white: Juan Niveyro, Matthew O’Leary, Chevy Beh and Hugo Palacios. Chevy Beh, the founder of BookDoc, a medical mobile application, is also the team’s patron and an experienced polo player, having captained the under-21 English Schools National side.
Bookdoc began the game with a half goal cushion but it was quickly snuffed out by the stick of Dario Musso, scoring the opening goal after two minutes to give Axus an early lead. Teammate and team patron Brian Xu followed up with a simple tap-in soon after to make it 2-0.5. Axus then made it three with a minute left on the clock in the first chukka, a searching long ball by Diego Gomez finding the stick of Xu to send it through.
Axus stretched their lead into the second, Brian Xu scoring his third before Bookdoc failed to defend a high floating ball, letting in Xu once again for a tap-in in to make it five. But Bookdoc came back on the four minute mark with a lightning fast charge and goal courtesy of Juan Niveyro. It didn’t herald a fight back, however; Axus bullied their way through the Bookdoc ranks soon after to make it 6 – 1.5 at half time.
Axus picked up where the left off after the restart, Diego Gomez scoring inside a minute, and then Dario Musso adding another half a minute later. The team in red made it nine with a beautiful team effort soon after, Bookdec having barely touched the ball all chukka. And then it was ten, Musso with his third goal of the match for Axus; Bookdoc looking thoroughly outmatched.
In the final chukka, the visitors Bookdoc finally turned up, pulling back a goal after a minute of play thanks to patron Chevy Beh. They were just starting to find some rhythm when disaster struck: Beh was unhorsed with two minutes left, and the ambulance took to the field. In light of his injury (which following a check-up turned out not to be serious) the umpires took the decision to call an end to the game, the final score Axus 10, Bookdoc 2.5.
The finals will be concluded tomorrow, with Fast Fish taking on Axus to see who will be crowned the first ever champion of the Fortune Heights National Cup. In the subsidiary final, Wahaha and Bookdoc will be battling it out for third place honours.
Results
The Chinese Challenge, 5 October, 2016
Fortune Heights vs Metropolitan Polo Club 8-2.5
Semi-final, 6 October, 2016
Fast Fish vs Wahaha 8-2.5
Axus vs Bookdoc 10-2.5