Spectacular opening of the 2nd Grass Arena World Polo Cup Azerbaijan
On 5th September, 2014 at the Elite Horse and Polo Club Bina the 2nd edition of the Grass Arena World Polo Cup Azerbaijan took off. The event was inaugurated with the words of Elçin Quliyev, President of the Equestrian Federation of the Republic of Azerbaijan: “Our Federation managed to create the first national polo team in the history of Azerbaijan. Unlike last year, at this edition our guests have the opportunity to support the national team” and highlighted the importance of this tournament and the initiative to create the Azerbaijani National Polo Team. “This will show its positive effect in the development of polo in our country, and the participation of our national team in international competitions, I am sure that the interest in equestrian sports will increase and the eventsLive of the kind will be more popular, proving that equestrian sports are indeed related to us”. His speech was followed by a spectacular opening ceremony, including horse acrobatics that left the audience with eyes wide open.
In the first game team Chopard from Argentina encountered team Baltika 7 from Europe. Jan-Erik Franck was in charge of commenting the game, and according to his usual style, entertaining the audience.
Simon Crotto scored the first goal for team Chopard, but Agustin Kronhaus took just seconds to even the match for Baltika 7. But the foursome could not keep up with Chopard, that rapidly took the lead and the first chukka was definitely theirs, by 4-1. The following two chukkas did not change much, Adrian Laplacette Jr. was the star of these chukkas, scoring most goals, and by the end of the third chukka, the game was absolutely from Chopard, with a score of 8-1. By the fourth chukka, team Baltika 7 got into the game again, with goals from Thomas Winter and Heinrich Dumrath, but the match got to its end, and Chopard was the absolute winner by 8-4.
The second match offered a most exiting game to the spectators. The fight between the Azerbaijani team Embawood A and team Maserati from USA, started for Azerbaijan with the right foot, with a goal scored by Raul Laplacette Jr, while the audience cheered joyfully. By the end of the second chukka, Tito Gaudenzi scored the first goal for Maserati on an undefended penalty shot, but Raul Laplacette was extremely fast to recover the lead for Azerbaijan, by 2-1. Although the Azerbaijani players were playing an outstanding game, Maserati evened the game and then took the lead with a goal by Gaudenzi, ending the third chukka by 3-2. They also hat a very good start in the fourth chukka and the score went to 5-2 quickly when Pablo Miguens scored the 5th goal. Azerbaijan was not leaving the pitch without putting up a big fight, and two more goals by the Azerbaijani team were scored. The audience cheered and followed the match intensely, hoping for their team to strike again. But finally Maserati won by 5-4, closing day 1 of the 2nd Grass Arena Polo World Cup Azerbaijan.
The teams:
Team Baltika 7+ (from Europe)
Heinrich Dumrath (D)
Agustin Kronhaus (ARG)
Thomas Winter (D)
Team Maserati (from USA)
Pablo Miguens (ARG)
Tito Gaudenzi (USA)
Satnam Dhillon (GB)
Team Chopard (from Argentina)
Andres Laplacette (ARG)
Simon Crotto (ARG)
Adrian Laplacette Jr. (ARG)
Team Embawood A (from Azerbaijan)
Seyidov Vugar Gasim (AZ)
Jamalli Elchin Shahin (AZ)
Hasanov Rashad Khosrov (AZ)
Raul Laplacette Jr. (ARG)
Team Embawood A (from Azerbaijan)
Abdurahmanov Khayal Shamil (AZ)
Abdurahmanov Tahir Shamil (AZ)
Atayev Sameddin Nuraddin (AZ)