French Polo at its Top!
On this first weekend of the Castel Cup – 10th French Open, the audience was able to admire not only a spectacular golden goal by Alexandre Sztarkman, the captain of Polo de Deauville during an extra chukker, but also witness the ascension of another polo team from Deauville that stood up to the rivals: HB Polo Team.
The brothers Sébastien and Ludovic Pailloncy, who form the HB Polo Team together with the two Argentineans Tomas Reinoso and Ignacio Toccalino, were able to win both of their first two matches against Polo de Deauville and Marquard Media with scores of 11-6 and 10-5. The big differences in the final results indicate that HB is from now on regarded as the reference team of this tournament.
Even the team of André Fabre, In The Wings, with the amazing combination of Ale Agote and Guillermo Terrera, wasn’t able to attain this goal difference against a team that participates in a French Open for the first time: They were only able to beat Tom Tailor (Germany) with a 10 to 6. Even though In The Wings has only played one match so far, the team remains among the most serious candidates for the title.
The performance of the Pailloncy brothers, as well as the Delfosse brothers’ accomplishments – they were both part of victorious teams on Sunday: Mathieu with Polo de Deauville and Clément with Paprec – both reflect the overall impression that was put in words by the Argentinean players: The French Polo is in top progression.
The games of the French Open continue on Tuesday, with an important encounter of two teams from Chantilly: Tres Marias and Aries, starting at 4pm. On Wednesday, the current holder of the title, Sainte-Mesme, will only enter the tournament just then as Robert Strom had been held back by the French national team last weekend in Austria where France won its two first games in the European Championship) and will have to face In The Wings! Those matches are only leading up to another weekend with no less than fifteen games on the program including those of the Peters Cup, a tournament of lower level at the same time as the Castel Cup – Open de France 2010. There is excitement to be looking forward to at the end of this week!