Injuries plague start of British Open at Cowdray
By Herbert Spencer
The British Open Championship for the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup kicked off Tuesday at Cowdray Park Polo Club with three games, but the start was marred by injuries to two of the tournament’s star players.
Adrian Kirby’s 1870 team was the first to suffer, even before the first Gold Cup ball was hit. In a practice match preparing for 1870’s opening match on Wednesday, 8-goal New Zealander John Paul Clarkin took a fall and broke his collarbone, putting the team’s star player out for the rest of the tournament. Kirby has brought in Argentine 8-goaler Polito Pieres to replace Clarkin.
Christopher Hanbury’s El Remanso downed Alfio Marchini’s Loro Piana 11-10, despite losing their brilliant 9-goal Uruguayan David “Pelon†Sterling to a fall early in the game. Sterling went down in the first 30 seconds of the match, injuring his right thumb. He played on, but almost immediately withdrew and was substituted with Eduardo Heguy to finish the match. Sterling is seeing a specialist Wednesday to assess the damage.
Meanwhile, Ali Albwardy’s Dubai, the titleholders starring 10-goaler Adolfo Cambiaso, had a comfortable 11-8 win over Spencer McCarthy’s Emlor. Emlor was a late entry in the tournament, replacing Billingbear Park to make up the 18 teams competing for England’s biggest prize.
In the third match of the day, Jerome Wirth’s Enigma, runners-up in the Queen’s Cup. easily beat Paul Oberschneider’s La Golondrina 13-7.