The XI World Polo Championships will be held on 21st October 2017, in Sydney Australia. Four teams – Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and Chile have already qualified. Three more team spots are available for which more qualifying tournaments are being held.
Allsportspk brings to you the Day to Day account of the qualification process for the remaining teams.
England and Spain win their first game
Day 1 – Tuesday May 2nd at The Polo Club du Domain du Chantilly.
First game: Teams from England and Germany opened the Zone C playoffs for the XI World Polo Championship in field 2.
They both started playing good polo, as expected, with Satnam Dhillon and Will Lucas getting a hold on the flow of the game but the young German players showing some nice skills and really good horses. The game was really fast paced and the field was in part helping them hit the ball hard and run. The British missed a few goals, letting the German boys score and have the game tied for most of the match. The 4th and final chukker saw the best of the experienced Will Lucas, working in defense and also scoring some good goals.
Final score (England): 7 – 3 ½
England: Henry Porter 2, Mark Baldwin 3, Satnam Dhillon 5 and Will Lucas 5. Total 14 goals.
Germany: Heinrich Dumrath 3, Max Bosch 3, Caesar Crasseman 3 and Caspar Crasseman 3. Total 12 goals.
Second game: The local team and the Spaniards played their first game with lots of people watching and anxious to score an important win at Field D’honour 1. Both teams were evenly handicapped at 14 goals and it showed in the field. France was led by Pierre N’Goumou with Patrick Paillol and Alexandre Sztarkman playing offense and Julien Reynes on defense. Spain played classic polo, with all player hitting the ball hard, specially Pelayo Berazardi. The game was tied most of the time but on the second half of the fourth chukker Mario Gomez did a great play on the boards and had his shot hit the post, showing that maybe Spain was going to be able to beat the “bleu”. They could finally score and ended getting a really important victory.
Final score (Spain): 5 – 4
Spain: Mario Gomez 4, Antonio Ayesa 3, Pelayo Berazardi 5 and Jose Trenor 2. Total 14 goals.
France: Julien Reynes 3, Patrick Paillol 5, Pierre N’Goumou 5 and Alexandre Sztarkman 1. Total 14 goals.
