Dubai Polo Gold Cup Series: Gold

Gold & Challenge Cups Wins for Ghantoot & UAE Polo

The Dubai Gold Cup Series is nearly at an end, with just one more Final – The Dubai Cup – due to be played on Friday 16 April. The series is made up of five tournaments and so far there have been wins for Habtoor Polo (IFZA Silver Cup), UAE Polo (The Polo Masters Cup and Dubai Challenge Cup) and Ghantoot Polo (IFZA Gold Cup). Here we look at the results from the recent IFZA Gold Cup and Dubai Challenge Cup.

The Dubai Challenge Cup

12 MAR FINAL 19 MAR

Where: Al Habtoor Polo Resort & Club, Dubai

UAE Polo (10) HH Sheika Maitha Al Maktoum (0) Battistoni (10) Alessandro Barnaba (0) The Dubai Challenge Cup Final Teams: The last day of The Dubai Challenge Cup featured two matches. The first match of the day saw Tratok/Hesketh Polo face Dubai Wolves in the Subsidiary Final; Tratok/Hesketh Polo scored the first goal of the match, but Dubai Wolves’ Tommy Beresford fought back with Raja Abuljabain (0) Pierre Jauretche (3) three consecutive goals and by the end of the fourth chukka the strong team Lukin Monteverde (3) Maxi Malacalza (3) play resulted in a 9-5 win for Dubai Wolves. Jacinto Crotto (7) Tomas Iriarte (4) The second match of the day, was the hotly anticipated Dubai Challenge Chukka scores: 2-0, 3-3, 5-4, 6-6, 7-6, to UAE Polo Cup Final between UAE Polo and Battistoni. UAE Polo were tipped to be favourites having already secured The Polo Masters Cup and made the Finals for The IFZA Silver Cup and IFZA Gold Cup, but Battisoni certainly gave them a run for their money on the day. Jacinto Crotto opened the scoring

Tomas Iriate MVP BPP for UAE Polo, but by half-time the Battistoni players had managed to level the scores to 3-3. UAE Polo briefly managed to hold an advantage in the third chukka, but by the end of the fourth chukka the scores had once again levelled which pushed the Final into a fifth chukka. As both teams tried to be the first to score, it was UAE Polo’s Crotto who managed to succeed with a Peresa, played by penalty goal which sealed the win for UAE Polo with a final score of 7-6. Lukin Monteverde

Photography by Al Habtoor Polo Resort & Club

IFZA Gold Cup

The 18 goal IFZA Gold Cup Final, the third phase of the Dubai Gold Cup Series, saw Ghantoot vs UAE Polo – both teams were evenly matched, with Ghantoot reaching the Final with an unblemished scoresheet, while UAE Polo were the finalists for The IFZA Silver Cup (losing out 11-8½ against Habtoor Polo) and winners of The Polo Masters Cup – the two earlier tournaments of the series, so there was everything to play for.

UAE Polo were the first to get their names on the scoreboard, with a flurry of goals from Tomas Panelo, with Ghantoot Polo facing an uphill struggle until they broke out in the third chukka to make an impressive comeback and ended the chukka with a four goal advantage, 8-4, following a series of successful penalty shots from Marcos Araya. Cesar Crespo scored back to back goals for Ghantoot in the dying minutes of the match and despite a strong offence from UAE Polo which brought them back into the game, two further goals from Panelo (the Top Scorer of the Tournament with 36 goals) secured Ghantoot Polo the win with a final score of 11-7.

12 FEB FINAL 5

MAR

Where: Al Habtoor Polo Resort & Club, Dubai

The IFZA Gold Cup Final Teams:

Ghantoot (18) UAE Polo (17)

Nasser Al Shamsi (1) HH Sheikha Maitha Al Maktoum (0) Cesar Crespo (4) Lukin Monteverde (3) Pablito Llorente (6) Tomas Panelo (7) Marcos Araya (7) Guillermo Willington (7) Chukka scores: 1-3, 2-4, 8-4, 8-5, 11-7, to Ghantoot Polo

36

goals

Top Goal Scorer of the Tournament: Tomas Panelo with 36 goals

Ghantoot Polo, winners of The IFZA Gold Cup

BPP MVP

Cesar Crespo

Jota Pichot, played by Marcos Araya