Ghantoot retains President of the UAE Polo Cup title: Polo News
In an astonishing move, the foursome of Ghantoot edged past ADCB (Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank) by a single point, 4-3 in the final game of the President of the UAE Polo Cup being played at the Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club, Abu Dhabi.
It was a great comeback from Ghantoot which lost the opening game in the hands of ADCB in the group clash. It was most competitive game of the tournament where both teams received a high number of penalty-shots in the six-chukka of action.
Gonzalo Azumendi scored the first goal of the day to establish their first dominance in the game. He was quite impressive throughout the opening game and scored three out of total four points in the first half. Hugo Barabucci in a counter-offence, hit a
lengthy drive, but it went wide. In the later time, Nasser Al Dhari also missed a shot and trailed by one goal after the first set of play.
The second chukka was quite lucky for ADCB, which received plenty of penalty-shots. Nasser Al Shamsi and Azumendi connected on one penalty-shot apiece and expanded the lead to three scores. At last the efforts of Ghantoot bore fruits, as Barabucci scored
a goal from the field and brought his team into the score net.
In the third set of play, Azumendi showed an outstanding game onto the field and through conversion of another spot shot increased the ADCB lead in the game. He converted a 150-yard long penalty-shot.
The ADCB attack came alive in the second half, but they could only score two goals in the three chukkas. Matias Colombres notched one goal each in the fourth and fifth set of play, but failed to level the game. An end-to-end play was observed in the later
time and both teams could not make any change on the scoreboard. With final whistle of the time-completion, Ghantoot rode away the field with a 4-3 win and lifted the President of the UAE Polo Cup.
More than thirty-two hundred spectators observed the heated contested polo game and rendered their supports with the two teams.
Carrie McNeill, the organiser of the event was of the view that they worked really hard to uphold the tournament’s publicity around the globe. They followed the vision of Later Sheikh Zayed, the founder of the Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club for promotion pattern,
he added.
Al Shamsi, the player part of the winning squad while speaking to the media, said that they had confidence to retain their title and kept their defence as stiff as possible to win the game. He maintained that ADCB was a tough squad of the tournament as they
fell to them in the qualifying match. However, they are quite pleased over the victory, he stated.
Vice-Chairman of the Ghantoot Racing and Polo Club, Saeed Bin Houfan Al Mansouri was of the opinion that this contest was one of the crucial events in the region. He also expressed gratifications over the massive support of people to make the event successful.
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