Polo & More, Singapore 2017 Polo & More, Singapore 2017 | Page 50

Off to the races; Ali Reda Gary Tiernan intently marking Sarah Wiseman Melissa Tiernan reaching for a near-side shot with Anna Lowndes in support shows, a bestselling album by the rapper Ludacris, and of course in this day and age even an app. In sport, the tennis player Bobby Riggs opined that the female game was inferior and even at 55 he could beat any of the top female players. When Bobby Riggs threw down the gauntlet in 1973 taunting female tennis players to take him on on the court, it seemed that his first round win in 2 sets over Margaret Court who at the time was the best female player in the world and 30 years his junior, seemed to validate his theory. However, the tenacious and talented Billie-Jean King destroyed him in a 3 set thriller in front of an audience of 30,000+ in the Houston Astrodome and 90 million worldwide – as the much hyped game was internationally televised. The sport of Polo which for many years was very much the domain of men, to the point that the first female member of the USPA Sue Sally Hale played as man for 12 years as the USPA would not grant her membership until 1972 despite the fact that she played better polo than some of her male counterparts. Even though Women polo players are very much an important part of the landscape these days, to the point that there is even now a women’s handicap there is still a gross imbalance at the higher levels of the sport. So, whilst “Battle of the Sexes” matches are commonplace all around the world, the men are some-times still reluctant participants for fear of appearing ungallant if they beat the ladies, or inadequate if they get beaten by them…. the ladies however have no such fear in showing up their male counterparts... and so it was one Sunday afternoon in Singapore. Initially as always there was reluctance from some men to participate in this game. However, putting egos aside, a highly competitive and zealous team in the shape of Ali Reda, Vinod Kumar, Gary Tiernan and the young Giles Twiss put themselves forward for the challenge. And it was no messing around from the men from the get go, as they realized that their 50