Polo & More, Singapore 2017 Polo & More, Singapore 2017 | Page 59

Chic guests, Parisienne-style pastries and plenty of thrills and spills
polo, meant the final tournament of the season at Singapore Polo
Club didn’t let a little rain dampen spirits.
A
“
polo handicap is a passport to the world.” And never is this more
true than when Clubs welcome teams from across the globe – such
as November’s visit from the members of Polo Club du Domaine
de Chantilly.
“Ever since its founding in 1886, the Singapore Polo Club, as the
one and only polo club in the country, has always been very open to
visiting players and teams,” comments Polo Captain, Ali Namazie. “The
Club has a long tradition therefore of
inviting overseas Clubs to participate
in tournaments or play friendly matches
in Singapore. Indeed, the large selection
of Club shields presented to the SPC over
the years by visiting teams and which
now adorn the Clubhouse is testament
to this.”
How true. And the team here in
Singapore undoubtedly pride themselves on their hospitality and ability to
put on a great show. Despite inclement downpours, they still welcomed the
tourists to a great weekend of polo and parties. Saturday’s match may have
meant a turn trying out the all-weather surface in the arena, but it was by
no means a disappointment to the teams.
Come Final’s day and post a saxophone serenade from musician, Tim
Stocker and a stylish crowd chattering over lunch, French team captain,
Florent Garaud led his teammates onto the pitch.
Sponsored by UBS, Garaud’s side included Alex Sztarkman, Arnaud de
Chenevarin, and Olivier Duguet and Marc Goldberg sharing a position. The
team asserted their dominance of the game from the first chukka with a
perfectly slotted goal two metres from the posts by de Chenevarin. He again
clocked up a second score in the closing moments of the first by overcoming
the opposition and notching up another goal.
The second chukka saw the French side’s opposition join the fray. Team
Textro Aviation was captained by Shane Boyd, the Club’s on-site professional,
Vinod Kumar, Isabelle Larenaudie and
Melissa Tiernan, and the second was
definitely their chukka to close the gap.
Kumar braved the strong defence tactics
of UBS to find the posts and garner the
goal they desperately needed to stay
within the game, yet it wasn’t long
before the opposition rallied. Duguet
surprised the crowd with two dazzling
goals to finish the first half of the game with a scoreline of 4-2.5.
The dark rain clouds were gathering as the players took to the pitch for
the third chukka. Textron Aviation leapt into action to score the only goal of
the third and marking their own goal posts to prevent any retaliation.
As with any game, the last chukka was the most intense with Textron
Aviation looking to claw back lost ground and UBS pushing to retain their
lead. Impressively defending and attacking the latter eventually sealed the
game I their favour with a fifth goal. Thus the final polo tournament of the
Singapore season concluded with a 5-3.5 score to the visiting French side.
“...the final scores of the
respective matches had France
getting the better of Singapore.
Vive le France.” - Ali Namazie
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Photography courtesy of Singapore Polo Club