El Basha Polo post win at Dubai Cup qualifiers
- Last updated: April 10, 2021 | 22:39
El Basha Polo and AM Polo teams registered victories in Dubai Cup 2021 qualifiers at the Al Habtoor Polo Resort and Club on Friday. The Dubai Cup is the fifth tournament of the Dubai Polo Gold Cup Series and five teams are taking poart in the competition.
The first match of the day was played between El Basha and Dubai IMMO teams with Juanji Diaz Alberdi scoring the first goal from 60 yards.
Justo Cuitino took El Basha Polo on the lead with a one-goal advantage by halftime. Ed Banner Eve extended the lead with three goals at the end of the third chukker.
Dubai IMMO, with their work cut out for them, managed to close the gap in scores midway through the final chukker and Tomas Palacios Bacque created a tie with less than 2 minutes left on the clock.
The intense play continued during the fifth chukker and Hani Jabshe scored the golden goal that sealed the win for the El Basha Polo team.
The next match was between AM Polo and Ankora/Dr. A with Dr Al Abbar nicking the first goal of the game. It was a fast first chukker with AM Polo grabbing the lead courtesy of Pablo Urquiza’s consecutive goals.
The next chukker ensued with the same rigour as Khalid Alomran levelled the game but, AM Polo closed the chukker with back to back goals and kept the 2-goal lead past halftime. The last chukker saw an intense play as AM Polo defended their position and Ankora/Dr. A attempted to create a tie close to the end of the game and it was Urquiza’s penalty shot that sealed the win for AM Polo at 7 goals to 5.
Earlier, three days ago, the opening day of Dubai Cup featured a match between Habtoor Polo and AM Polo teams.
The scores were close until halftime with AM Polo at a 1-goal advantage. The third chukker had seen a comeback from Habtoor Polo team by gaining on its opponent and ending the chukker with a 2-goal lead. Both teams racing for the win, AM Polo managed to close in on the gap in scores but Habtoor Polo.
This lead determined the outcome of the match in spite of efforts from AM Polo with the additional goals they have delivered. Ultimately, the game ended at 8.5 goals to 5 in favour of Habtoor Polo team.
The Dubai Polo Gold Cup (DPGC) Series was founded in 2009 by Mohammed K Al Habtoor, patron of Habtoor Polo team.
Year on year, the tournament has reached new heights. In 2012, the Gold Cup was recognized by the World Polo Tour (WPT), and in January 2014 the WPT committee credited the Gold Cup tournament as being the highest competition in terms of points within the WPT Challenge Cup category, elevating it to 50 points for the winner.
The year 2015 marked the first time that the WPT upgraded the Gold Cup tournament from ‘Challenge Cup’ to the highly coveted ‘WPT Cup’, resulting in winners received 60 points. In 2017 the tournament was moved up to WPT Championship Cup – the highest competition in terms of points, awarding its winners with 125 points. The Silver Cup is ranked under the ‘WPT Challenge Cup’ category – with winners receiving 60.
The Dubai Challenge Cup belongs under the WPT Challenge Cup category giving its winners 10 points.