By Gonzalo Etcheverry
Habtoor and Desert Palm scored wins in a new qualifying round of the McLaren Silver Cup, that takes place at Al Habtoor Polo Resort and Club. Habtoor remain unbeaten and earned a spot in quarter finals, while Desert Palm won their first game against Wolves.
Desert Palm and Wolves opened the third day of the tournament, in a match that had a very close start. However, Tariq Albwardy’s team displayed tehir best polo in the second chukker, to take a wide 7-3 lead.
Desert Palm took advantage of every opportunity to score and extended their lead chukker after chukker. By the end of the day, they achieved a very important 13-6 victory.
Desert Palm’s Alejo Taranco was the top scorer, with seven goals. Santiago Laborde was the MVP.
Score Desert Palm: 3-2, 7-3, 8-5, 11-6, 13-6.
Scorers:
Desert Palm: Alejo Taranco 7, Santiago Laborde 5, Martin Valent 1
Wolves: Manuel Cerspo 3, Ezequiel Martinez Ferrario 2, Habtoor Habtoor 1
Next up, Habtoor made an impressive comeback in the fifth chukker to defeat UAE 9 – 7,5.
Both teams played a great match. UAE had Guillermo Terrera and Jack Hyde as their leading men. Together, they made a terrific attack and by half time, UAE was 4,5 – 2 up.
Habtoor woke up in the fourth chukker. With Alfredo Cappella in his best form, Mohammed Al Habtoor’s team quickly cut the margin to half goal ( 5 – 6,5) and took the lead in the last chukker, to complete their heroic 9 – 7,5 win.
Alfredo Cappella was the top scorer (seven goals) and Juan Zubiaurre took MVP honors.
Score Habtoor: 0-1.5, 0-2.5, 2-4.5, 5-6.5, 9-7.5.
Scorers:
Habtoor: Alfredo Cappella 7, Tommy Beresford 2
UAE: Guillermo Terrera 3, Jack Hyde 3, Pablo Llorente 1
The McLaren Silver Cup will resume on Wednesday January 25, with the match between Mahra and Bin Drai, at 4pm.
Photo Gallery, by PoloLine
Photo Gallery, by Gonzalo Etcheverry