Wed 30th Jun 20212021 Gold Cup Day 1 ResultsWins for Vikings and Talandracas
Yesterday, Tuesday 29 June, saw the journey to become 2021 Gold Cup champions begin at Cowdray Park Polo Club, with two matches played. The opening match of the day saw Emlor face Vikings, with Vikings’ accuracy early in the match pay dividends when it came to the final results. Although Emlor trailed throughout, the straight shooting of Agustin Merlos meant they capitalised on penalty opportunities that came their way, however Vikings nearly doubled Emlor’s field goal tally and it was this shooting efficiency which ultimately secured Vikings their 13-11 win. The second match of the day was between Beh’s BP Polo and Carmignac’s Talandracas, which was a doubly disappointing match for BP Polo as not only did they lose their first match of the tournament, but following a head-on collision, BP Polo’s 10 goal Juan Martin Nero was forced to retire from the match with a broken ankle (replaced by Nico Pieres), which will require surgery and means he will not be able to join his BP Polo teammates on their 2021 Gold Cup journey. Talandracas’s organised defence meant that BP Polo were limited to just one goal in each of the first four chukkas and allowed Talandracas to establish a lead which they maintained throughout the match to take home a 13-8 win. The Hon Lila Pearson presented the Carlos Gracida Memorial Trophy to Edouard Carmignac, and the Best Playing Pony rug was awarded to Rebalde, played by Camilo Castagnola and owned by his father, Lolo Castagnola. The action continues today with Great Oaks LL vs Monterosso (1pm), Park Place vs Murus Sanctus (12pm) and Scone vs Thai Polo NP (3pm) tomorrow, UAE Polo Pod vs King Power (12pm) on Friday 2 July, Monterosso vs BP Polo (12pm) and UAE Polo Team vs Talandracas (3pm) on Saturday 3 July, Vikings vs Murus Sanctus (12pm) and Park Place vs Scone (3pm) on Sunday 4 July. The 2021 Gold Cup Teams: Emlor (22): Spencer McCarthy (1), Agustín ‘Tincho’ Merlos (7), Alfredo Bigatti (8) & Max Charlton (6) Vikings (22): Siri Bazzoni (0), Sebastian Merlos (8), Juan Martín Zubía (8) & Chris Mackenzie (6) BP Polo (22): James Beh (1), Joevy Beh (3), Juan Martin Nero (10) & Alejandro Muzzio (8) Talandracas (22): Camilo ‘Jeta’ Castagnola (8), Edouard Carmignac (0), Marcos Araya (6) & Diego Cavanagh (8) Great Oaks Les Lions (22): Dillon Bacon (2), Cruz Heguy (4), Bartolome Castagnola Jnr (9) & Guillermo Terrera (7) Monterosso (22): Alessandro Bazzoni (1), Mackenzie Weisz (4), David Stirling (9) & Ignacio ‘Cubi’ Toccalino (8) Park Place (22): Andrey Borodin (0), Will Harper (4), Juan Britos (8) & Facundo Pieres (10) Murus Sanctus (22): Corinne Ricard (0), Facundo Sola (8), Guillermo ‘Sapo’ Caset (9) & Matt Perry (5) Scone (23): David Paradice (0), Poroto Cambiaso (7), Isidro Strada (6) & Adolfo Cambiaso (10) Thai Polo NP (22): Louis Hine (2), Ned Hine (4), James Harper (7) & Nico Pieres (9) UAE Polo Pod (21): Sam Browne (1), Lucas “Lukin” Monteverde Jnr (5), Alfredo Cappella (8) & Jack Richardson (7) King Power (22): Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha (1), Hugo Lewis (3), Francisco Elizalde (8) & Hilario Ulloa (10) UAE Polo Team (22): HH Sheikha Maitha (0), Tomas Panelo (6), Polito Pieres (9) & Tomas Beresford (7) Photograph: Max Charlton with the ball on the nearside for Emlor. By Mark Beaumont |