The third Tang Polo Club China Open Polo Kicked off to a Great Start
On September 7th, the third annual China Open Polo kicked at the Tang Polo Club in Beijing. This month long tournament features 3 different divisions (2 goal, 6 goal and 12 goal), with the 2 goal Argentina Republic Polo Cup setting the standards high for the tournaments to follow. The 2 goal tournament was split into two separate smaller one day tournaments this year, starting with the Argentine Republic Polo Club on the 7th, and the Amateur Polo Club on the 8th.
This year, the China Open Polo tournament was sponsored by the Cycling and Fencing Administrative Center of General Administration of Sport in China，the Chinese Equestrian Association and Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports, and co-hosted by the Beijing Sports Competitions Administration Center, the Beijing Equestrian Association, the Bureau of Sports of Tongzhou District and the Tang Polo Club. The China Open Polo is now recognized as a national brand sport event after the China Tennis Open. The 2013 China Open Polo includes games of different levels and polo players from all over the world, all competing for the final place and winning cup.
Three teams competed in the 2 goal Argentine Republic Polo Cup: the Kingpower team, the Tang Polo Club team and the HG team, with the one day event being played over 6 chukkas.
The first match, between the Kingpower and Tang Polo Club team, was a 2-all draw game. The second match was Kingpower versus HG team. The two teams scored a goal each in the first chukka, but the Kingpower team won the game 3-2 with two goals in a row. The third match, the Tang Polo Club team versus HG team, was neck on neck the whole way through, with both teams playing extremely hard and tough, but in the end the Tang Polo Club team came out on top, winning the championship. The Kingpower team won the most valuable player prize.
The Argentine Ambassador Day has become a special event since the first time it was held during the China Open Polo in 2011. During a speech at the event, the Argentine Ambassador to China Mr. Gustavo Martino said, ‘the China Open Polo and Argentine Ambassador Day greatly promotes polo culture to China and also provides a competition platform for polo players all over the world. In the future, there will be more and more polo cooperative programmes between the two countries and will bring the whole glamour of polo to all Chinese’. Argentine ambassador Gustavo Martino made the speech in the event.