After participating in the magnificent parade through the village of Gstaad on Friday, the polo players, among the best in the world, met once again yesterday on the field at the Saanen/Gstaad airport to contend for the Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad 2009. The second day of the competition took place in an atmosphere of suspense and a high standard of play.
The game plan was as follows:
1:30pm Porsche team vs. Gstaad Palace team
3:00pm Hublot team vs. Star Design team
Suspense was in the air from the first game, though the Gstaad Palace team clearly had the edge, due particularly to their top player, Alejandro Agote (handicap 8). Hector Guererro (handicap 7) and young Swiss polo talent Sacha Pictet (handicap 0) played an excellent game as well. Of the Porsche team, the Argentine Pablo Jauretche (handicap 8), who is especially known for the elegance of his playing style, backed up by the Argentine of Swiss extraction Federico Bachmann (handicap 6) and Bautista Ortiz de Urbina (handicap 5) played a great game. Nevertheless, the Gstaad Palace team won 8 1/2 – 8 over the Porsche team.
The brothers Eduardo and Francisco Menendez (both handicap 7) of the Hublot team played outstandingly from the beginning of the game. Knowing perfectly the actions and reactions one of the other, and very familiar with the Gstaad field, on which they’ve played on numerous occasions, they were well able to support the impressive offense work of the team captain, the Italian Gualtiero Giori (handicap 1) and of the number 2 player, Teté Storni (handicap 3). Of the Star Design team, Juan Agustin Garcia-Grossi (handicap 8) played particularly well. Andrés James (handicap 1) was impressive on defense, and the Swiss team captain Daniel Aegerter (handicap 0) clearly confirmed his potential. Hublot was however the obvious victor with a score of 12 – 6.