Kicks off with a spectacular opening ceremony at Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club
4 teams from the world’s top polo nations vie for Championship title from October 1-5
Tianjin, China, October 1, 2012 – A spectacular opening ceremony was held at the Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club today to celebrate the opening of the Fortune Heights Super Nations Cup 2012. The event was attended by guests from around the world who flew in specially for the tournament and was graced by Mr. Shen Jiacong, Vice Secretary of the Tianjin Government; Mr. Liu Fengshan, Director of Tianjin Sports Bureau; Mr. Peter Nicholas Yunghanns, FIP Executive Council Member; Mr. Asad Jumabhoy, Executive Committee Member; Mr. Eduardo Huergo, President of the Federation of International Polo (FIP); Mr. Harvey Lee, Vice Chairman of Goldin Group; Mr. Fred Zhou, General Manager of Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club.
This 24-goal tournament, one of the highest-goal international tournaments in the world is hosted by the Federation of International Polo (FIP), Tianjin Sports Bureau and coorganised by Tianjin Polo Association, Hong Kong Polo Development and Promotion Federation and the Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club.
The adrenaline-charged tournament will see four professional teams from the world’s top polo nations meet, countries include Argentina, England, USA and Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong, China were the champions of the Snow Polo World Cup 2012. The youth exhibition that took place concurrently will be represented by South Africa, Argentina, England and USA.
An Argentinian opera company gave the tournament an astounding opening followed by speeches by Mr Eduardo Huergo, President of FIP and Tianjin Municipal People’s Government’s Deputy Secretary, Mr Shen Jiacong. Mr Shen mentioned in his speech that the tournament is a successful example of how Tianjin is fast becoming a city renowned for holding international polo eventsLive.
The ceremony continued with a Scottish bag-pipe performance followed by the team parade where players from the four competing nations proudly saluted guests attending the event.
The opening parade was followed by the tradition of ball throwing by Mr Eduardo Huergo, President of FIP signifying the start of the match.
Scores on the first day of play
The opening game was a 6-chukka polo match between Hong Kong, China (24 goals) and USA (24 goals).
Team Hong Kong, China
Chris MacKenzie
John Paul Clarkin
Jose Donoso
John Fisher
Team USA
Mason Wroe
Mike Azzaro
Kris Kampsen
Jeff Hall
The scores of the game between Hong Kong, China and USA was an 8:8 draw at the end of the 6th chukka with penalty shoot-outs resulting in a score of: USA 3, Hong Kong, China 1. USA will proceed to the finals and Hong Kong, China will proceed to the subsidiary finals.
USA made an incredible come-back from 8:5 in the last 3 minutes to not only tie the game but to almost win it in the last 8 seconds of the last chukka, including hitting the post before running out of time on their final goal-shot. This was certainly one of the most spectacular come- backs we have seen in awhile.
Daily polo matches are being contested as follows:
Tuesday, 2 October 2012:
14:00 2nd Semi-Finals Super Nations Cup England vs Argentina
16:00 1st Semi-Finals U16 Teams England vs USA
Wednesday, 3 October 2012:
14:00 Subsidiary Finals Super Nations Cup
16:00 2nd Semi-Finals U16 Teams
Thursday, 4 October 2012:
14:00 Subsidiary Finals U16 Teams
16:00 Finals U16 Teams
Friday, 5 October 2012:
16:00 Finals Fortune Heights Super Nations Cup 2012
Partners of Fortune Heights Super Nations Cup 2012:
TITLE SPONSOR
Fortune Heights
HOSTS
Federation of International Polo
Tianjin Sports Bureau
CO-ORGANISERS
Tianjin Polo Association
Hong Kong Polo Development and Promotion Federation
Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club
OFFICIAL MEDIA PARTNER
Equestrio China
OFFICIAL JERSEY PROVIDER
La Martina
CHAMPAGNE SPONSOR
FOR PRESS CONFERENCE, AFTER POLO-PARTIES & PRE-GALA DINNER COCKTAIL Moet Hennessy Diageo (China) Co. Ltd
OFFICIAL BROADCASTER
Television Broadcasts Limited
OFFICIAL INSURANCE PROVIDER
Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd
END
About Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club
Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club currently features two standard size polo fields, stabling for 205 horses, all-weather training facilities, a riding school and a luxurious Club House and 167-room resort-style hotel. The state-of-the-art equestrian facilities are used and maintained by professionals from all over the world. Apart from being the host venue of the 2012 inaugural FIP Snow Polo World Cup, major international fixtures on the Club’s annual calendar include various spring and autumn tournaments and matches for different levels of play from youth to professional. The Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club was opened in November 2010 as the sporting and social flagship of “Goldin Metropolitan”, a mega-development by Hong Kong-listed developer Goldin Properties Holdings Limited which will comprise three zones: a Central Business District, home to the 117-storey Goldin Finance Tower; the 898,000 square metre (222-acre) Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club and a low density luxury residential belt to be launched in the near future.
About Federation of International Polo (FIP)
The Federation of International Polo (FIP), founded in 1982, is the international body governing the sport of polo recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and includes 59 National Federations as full members. Polo has been played in the Olympics and is growing in popularity all over the world. Polo is a sport of horse and player. Men and women compete together in this contact sport as players are handicapped and games have a handicap range. While polo has primarily been played outdoors on a large green field, variations of the sport such as snow, beach and indoor polo are emerging and gaining popularity. FIP aims to develop rules for the safe conduct of the sport for both horse and player. Competition, sportsmanship and compliance with international rules of fair play are at the core of our sporting ethos.
For more information or high resolution images, please contact: Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club
| Trina Teo Director, Marketing & Communications Tel: (86) 22 8372 8888 ext. 7908 Mob: (86) 150 2240 9312 trinateo@metropolitanpoloclub.com www.metropolitanpoloclub.com |
Fiona Gu Executive, Marketing & Communications Tel: (86) 22 8372 8888 ext. 7902 Mob: (86) 138 2053 3909 fionagu@metropolitanpoloclub.com www.metropolitanpoloclub.com |
| For more information on the Federation of International Polo, please contact: | |
| Federation of International Polo Marcelo T. de Alvear 684 (C1058AAH), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tel: (54) 11 4311 0979 www.fippolo.com |