While the snow was late in showing up in Megève, finally a beautiful white carpet and optimal weather conditions accompanied the 6 teams for the 21st edition of the Polo Masters Megève 2016.
After two days of qualifications it was team Fer à Cheval, the defending champion, who opposed in the finals the Ice Watch team of young Louis Costes (0). Despite the experience of Fer à Cheval’s Laurent Dassault (0), and his two faithful professionals, Matthew Delfosse (4) and Patrick Paillol (4) participating in this tournament for many years and with multiple victories under their belt, Louis Costes’ (0) preparation managed to win. Louis Costes who succeeded his brother Edward as head of the family team was accompanied by Brieuc Rigaux (5) and Thierry Vétois (3), a balanced formation that managed to keep its advantage all throughout this final and won with a score of 5-3.
The two English teams, participating for the first time in this tournament, found themselves face to face for the subsidiary cup. The Cafe Woody team of Freya Dawson (0) finally gave in with a score of 3-5 to the Megève team led by Raffa Singh (1) and Charlotte Chistodoulou (0), who shared the position, and accompanied by Johnny Good (4) and Alec Banner Eve (h3), both winners of the Snow polo tournament in Kitzbühel, a week earlier.
The Stalis team represented by the Sztarkman family, Alexandre (1) and Sam (0), fought until the last minute against the experienced team of Cyrille Costes, under the colours of Les Fermes de Marie, the latter finally won 6-5, taking the 5th place.
The final of this tournament was also an opportunity to admire the traditional demonstration of Kids polo, much to the delight of the public marvelled at these young players on their Shetlands.
This 21st edition of the Megève Polo Masters marked a turning point with the introduction of a new concept for welcoming spectators: Frosted aperitifs. Indeed, a beautiful nomad tent had been set up at the edge of the field to accommodate Chefs who cooked on beautiful colourful BBQ, throughout the event. Braziers scattered along the side of the field also allowed viewers to be able to discover all the matches in a very friendly atmosphere.
Ranking:
#1 Ice Watch (8)
Louis Costes (0)
Brieuc Rigaux (5)
Thierry Vetois (3)
#2 Le Fer à Cheval (8)
Laurent Dassault (0)
Matthieu Delfosse (4)
Patrick Paillol (4)
#3 Megeve (7 / 6)
Raffa Singh (1) / Charlotte Chistodoulou (0)
Alec Banner Eve (2)
Johnny Good (4)
#4 Cafe Woody (7)
Freya Olivia Dawson (0)
Grant Collelt (3)
Michael Hendersen (4)
#5 Les Fermes de Marie (8)
Cyrille Costes (0)
Clément Delfosse (5)
Clément Gosset (3)
#6 Stalis (8)
Alexandre Sztarkman (1)
Dario Musso (7)
Sam Stzarkman (0)