Black Eagles and Gaucho win a game each
The Arena Gold Cup is underway at The Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club with the first two games completed on Saturday 21 February. Simon Arber’s Black Hound team missed out on a win to Gaucho by just one goal in the first game of the tournament for League 1 teams. The Black Hound line-up of Simon Arber, Tarquin Southwell and Pete Webb battled over four chukkas against Faisal Al-Rifai, Oscar Mancini and Adolfo Casabal to end with a final score of 18-17 in favour of Gaucho. Black Hound’s next game is today, against Hilali Noordeens’ team Sifani which features Goffredo Cutinelli and Max Charlton. Gaucho will also play Sifani, which is scheduled for tomorrow.
In the second game on Saturday for League 2 teams, Black Eagles defeated Chopendoz Eclipse in another close game. There were high scores on the boards as Jonathan Munro Fords’ team, including regular Black Eagle Chris Hyde as well as Sergio Baselli, who played for the team in the HPA Christmas National Club Championships battled it out. Chopendoz Eclipse featuring Ed Banner-Eve, Alec Banner-Eve and Jamie Morrison missed out on their first win with a final score of 23-21 in favour of Black Eagles. The title defenders, Black Eagles will play Silex today, which features an all-Irish line-up of Richard Fagan, Mikey Henderson and Sebastian Dawnay. Chopendoz Eclipse will play the Irish line-up tomorrow. The Finals for both the Silver and Gold Cup will be played for on Saturday 28 February.
Photograph: Sergio Baselli for Black Eagles in action earlier this year at The Royal County of Berkshire. By Lucy Wilson
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