The 18 goal tournament starts in 12 days at Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club
The prestigious international tournament, also part of the World Polo Tour, will begin on Monday 23 February with 12 teams entered. Defending champions for two years in a row, Ghantoot, will take to the field in the first game of the tournament against Bin Drai Polo team. They will be fielding a completely different line-up to last year, with the team now featuring Masser Al Shamsi (1), Felipe Llorente (3), Hugo Barabucci (6) and Alejandro Muzzio (8).
Changes all round for the Dubai Open this year, as the handicap level has been raised from 16 to 18 goals and title sponsor Julius Baer have taken on the title of Mohammed Al Habtoor’s team for the tournament. Young English player from Guards Polo Club, Tom Brodie (2), will be playing alongside Tariq Albwardy (1), Diego Cavanagh (8) and Matias Zavaleta (7) for Desert Palm 2, their first game will be against Amr Zedan’s and his team Martin Gandara (4), Facundo Llorente (4) and Pablo MacDonough (10) on Tuesday 24 February.
The only woman in the tournament HH Shekiha Maitha and her team UAE, featuring Lucas Monteverde (9), Santiago Stirling (5) and Ignacio Acuña (4), will face Rashid Albwardy and his team Desert Palm 1 with a line-up of Martin Valent (4), Facundo Castagnola (6) and Santiago Laborde (6) on Tuesday 24 February. The Semi Finals will take place between 9 –10 March and the tournament will conclude with the Final scheduled for Friday 13 March for the Julius Baer Cup.
Photograph: 2014 Dubai Gold Cup winners Ghantoot. By Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club
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