Golden Al Basti team wins Ghantoot Polo Tournament

Golden Al Basti team wins Ghantoot Polo Tournament

Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club: One of the closest games in the history of Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club’s Golden Cup was played out to a private gathering of Royals and VIPs over the weekend.

Held under the patronage of H.H Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and in the presence of HH Sheikh Sultan Bin Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ghantoot went down by just one goal to a ferocious Al Basti team, with the score finishing 4-5.


Ghantoot Golden Cup was presented by Al Basti, lead sponsored by ADCB and supported by Tom Ford. 


The final was a private event with 200 invited guest including Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club board members, HE Saed Bin Houfan Al Mansoori, HE Mattar Al Yabhoni and HE Aleksandr Semeshko, Ambassador to Belarus who also took part in the prize-giving ceremony.


David Bernal, Argentine polo professional, received the Tom Ford Man of the Match after scoring four of Al Basti’s five goals. Bernal opened the scoring in the first chukker and followed up with two more goals in the second. Al Basti’s Emirati player, Nasser al Dhari, also got onto the score sheet with his goal in the third chukker.


For Ghantoot, Matthias Colombres, another Argentine, replied with a goal for Ghantoot in the second chukker and another in the third and one more in the fourth to bring the scores to 4-3 to Al Basti going into the fifth and final chukker. And though Ahmed al Nueimi scored for Ghantoot to level the tally, Bernal was not done, claiming one more goal before the final claxon.


I’m very happy that our team won this event,” said Arun Menon from Al Basti, a long-time supporter of events at Ghantoot. “It was a very close game and the action was always fast and furious. It was a very good game to watch. Al Basti is proud to support Ghantoot and it was a real honour to receive the trophy from Sheikh Sultan.”


Bernal agreed that the on-pitch action had been fast-paced. It was one of the closest Golden Cups that I can remember,” said the player. “The teams were evenly-matched and Ghantoot played very well. In the end we were just able to pip them before the end but it could easily have gone the other way.”