Amr Zedan, patron of the Zedan Polo Team and a long-term supporter of this event, won the Cartier International Dubai Polo Challenge at Ali Albwardy’s Desert Palm Polo Club yesterday for the first time.
His team had impressed this week and did not disappoint on finals day. They beat Mohammed Al Habtoor’s Habtoor Polo 9-6 in this final, the conclusion of four days play under an unseasonably hot sun here in Dubai.
Patron of the event, HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, wife of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, presented the trophy to Amr and fellow patron, the young Emirati player Rashid Bin Drai. Cartier’s VIP guest, the model Alessandra Ambrosio, had earlier awarded Habtoor Polo’s Santiago Gomez Romero the La Martina Most Valuable Player prize, while his patron, Mohammed Al Habtoor, received the Cartier Best Playing Pony saddle and rug for Sasha. This pony had been played by Tomas Iriarte in a couple of chukkas of the final.
Earlier in the day, the home side, Desert Palm won the subsidiary final, defeating the sponsor’s squad, Cartier 7-5.