Dubai were first to score with a neat field goal from Rashid Albwardy. When
Cambiaso fouled Pieres towards the end of the first chukka, a penalty
enabled King Power to draw level. In a messy second chukka every goal came
from a penalty to end 4-3 in Dubai’s favour.
A more free-flowing third chukka saw Pieres stop a strong forward pass by
Cambiaso and pass the ball to Llorente, who raced off to send a massive hit
from way down the field resulting in a superb goal. King Power were equal
once again. Dubai notched up two goals before Pieres shut out Cambiaso
allowing Di Paola to score a splendid goal to equalise again at 5-5.
But it wasn’t long before the white shirts gave away a penalty which Cavanagh
shot through to take the lead again for Dubai. Cambiaso clearly wanted to go
into half time with a clear advantage and like a cat after a mouse pounced
on the ball, played it around the opposition and then took off for the goal
to send the ball between the posts for a lead of 7-5.
After the tread-in the teams came back onto the field to a throw in, won by
Dubai. A mighty hit at goal by Cambiaso went wide, once again he found the
space to approach the goal but that shot too failed.
Finally his non-stop efforts paid with his second field goal of the match.
A good piece of action from King Power saw Di Paola just fail to get the goal
he wanted, but Llorente was on hand to capture the ball and pass it to
Pieres who weaved his way through the opposition to score.
Soon a foul gave Diego Cavanagh the chance to put through a 30 yard hit
between the posts to take Dubai further into the lead on 9-6 to close the
fourth chukka.
A thrilling chukka 5 belonged to King Power even though the first goal went to
Cavanagh from a spot hit awarded to Dubai. A penalty 3 gave Gonzalito the
chance to loft a superb ball through for 7-10 and he followed up with three
superb field goals despite tremendous pressure from the Dubai players,
levelling the scores again at 10-10.
But a penalty awarded to Dubai saw Cavanagh score and take Dubai ahead once
more to close the chukka.
Cambiaso was away from the first throw-in of chukka six and tapped his way
forward. A splendid under the neck shot took Dubai on to 12-10.
Off he went again but was fouled and a 60 yard penalty awarded. A mighty hit
from Cavanagh gave Dubai a lead of 13-10. The next throw-in saw Pablo
Llorente away with the ball and determined to keep it – despite a 7 goaler
and a 10 goaler in his way.
Weaving his way round them he kept control of the ball and sent it through for
11-13 to huge applause. King Power carried on fighting, three fantastic
attempts by Gonzalito Pieres simply couldn’t find the goal.
A final mighty shot from Cambiaso went wide and the match ended with Dubai
securing their fourth Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup with the score at 13-11.
AWARDS:
The Gold Cup was handed over by Lady Cowdray, and Jean-Marc Lacave, President
of Veuve Clicquot presented a Salmanazar of Veuve Clicquot to the Dubai
patron Rashid Albwardy.
The Peter Holman Award for Most Valuable Player went to Adolfo Cambiaso, who
was presented with an engraved Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Grande Taille,
Steel, watch by Zahra Kassim-Lakha, Director UK Market Global
Strategy, at Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Elsa Corbineau, Director of Marketing, Champagnes, Moët Hennessy, presented
the Veuve Clicquot saddle to the Highest Goal Scorer of the British Open
Polo Championship to Gonzalito Pieres who had scored 48 goals during the
tournament (Diego Cavanagh scored 46).
Rose Harper presented the Harper spurs to ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha, the
traditional presentation to the patron of the runners-up.
BEST PLAYING PONY
The Best Playing Pony award was presented by Gaston Lauhle on behalf of the
Argentine Polo Pony Breeders Association to ‘Dolfina Primicia, owned and
ridden by Adolfo Cambiaso
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