Wed 28th Jan 2015Fortune Heights Snow Polo starts todayEngland play Peru in tournament opener
The FIP Snow Polo World Cup begins today at Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club in China. The Club hosted Asia’s first snow polo challenge back in 2011, before the FIP sanctioned the event the following year. Since then the event has gone from strength to strength and this year welcomes teams from 12 countries. The 16 goal teams have been drawn into two zones of six teams each, with countries seeded according to their finish in last year’s tournament. Today’s opening matches will see last year’s winners, England (Jack Richardson, Max Routledge and Matt Perry) play Peru (Iago Masias, Guillermo Li and Jose Milaniovich) before Brazil (Guillerme Lins, Gustavo Garcia and Aluisio Vilela Rosa) face Canada (Brandon Phillips, Marcelo Abbiati and Todd Offen). In the final match of the day, New Zealand (Glenn Sherriff, Kit Brooks and Tom Hunt) will play Argentina (Juan Cruz Gregouli, Juan Maria Echeverez and Hector Crotto). Play continues tomorrow with Hong Kong China (Juan Britos, John Fisher and Pablo Juaretche) versus Spain (Juan Clemente Marambio, Pelayo Berazardi and Santiago Marambio), Chile (Martin Zegers, Alejandro Vial and Ignacio Vial Mazieres) versus the US (Delmer Walton, Tommy Biddle and Mike Azzaro) and France (Clement Delfosse, Patrick Primael Paillol and Brieuc Rigaux) versus Mexico (Valerio Aguilar Sotelo, Mariano Gracida Marin and Roberto Gonzalez Gracida). Defending champions England and double winners, Hong Kong China are strong favourites to claim the trophy, but will have to see off tough challenges from the likes of Argentina and the US whilst also keeping a close eye on the tournament’s dark horses, Peru who will be competing in their first ever snow polo tournament. The two-week event continues with league matches before the Final of The Fortune Heights FIP Snow Polo World Cup, which is scheduled for Sunday 8 February. Photograph: The 2014 winners of The FIP Snow Polo World Cup, England. By Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club |