In mid-June, the 19th Mashomack International Polo Challenge took place at the Mashomack Polo Club close to New York. Five teams in total took part. This year, Germany took on a leading role. The team playing for Mercedes Benz comprised Alessandro Balestri (1, South Africa), filling in for Philipp Zimmermann, who was injured at the BMW Polo Cup at Gut Basthorst, John Klopp (1, USA), Julio Eszcura (3, Argentina) and Uwe Zimmermann (1, Germany).
A fantastic event in the wonderful summer weather took place in front of more than 1,000 invited spectators and several hundred spectators in the “tailgate” area (where spectators could park their cars right by the polo pitch). After the march by the State Troopers and the playing of the national anthem, the tournament was opened with the qualifying games.
The teams Quest, Mercedes Benz and Lavazza ended up qualifying. The final round was won by team Mercedes Benz with a score of 3-2 against Lavazza and 4-2 against Quest. John Bienstock was honoured as Most Valuable Player in his handicap class.
The event organisers – the Colley and Klopp families – were very pleased with the way the tournament went and the total of 40,000 US dollars raised in the silent auction to which the Adris Group from Croatia and Giardino Group from Switzerland made a contribution.
Uwe Zimmermann from the winning team Mercedes Benz: “I would like to extend my warm thanks to Teresa and Bruce Colley for the excellent hospitality and perfect organisation. After playing six years ago in Mashomack, it was particularly nice to win the tournament on our return!”