Mon 6th Jun 2016Cartier Queen's Cup Day 12 and 13 The Semi Finals are Set and the Action is Heating Up
The two remaining unbeaten teams in this year’s Cartier Queen’s Cup competition retained their unblemished record after wins in the first Quarter Finals of this high goal contest on Saturday 4 June. Rashid Albwardy’s Dubai defeated the Pailloncy brothers HB Polo 15-9 in a morning game at the Gottschalk family’s Les Lions polo grounds. Although Adolfo Cambiaso was on good form, scoring nine of his team’s 15 goals, the entire Dubai played well as a team, ensuring there were always players in place to pick up passes. However, it was clear to those watching that Dubai were in command of this game from the first whistle. There was a similar story in King Power Foxes’ game against La Bamba De Areco at Guards Polo Club. Diego Cavanagh and his patron Jean François Decaux tried hard to keep La Bamba in contention, and the packed grandstands at Smith’s Lawn watched a flowing match without being interrupted by too many umpires’ whistles. But King Power, the current holders of the Cartier Queen’s Cup, remained dominant and thanks to some accurate penalties off the stick of Gonzalito Pieres they had a seven-goal lead (13-6) at the end of the fifth. Having established this substantial advantage, King Power Foxes then eased up in the sixth, while La Bamba scored four further goals. This brought them back into the game, but was not quite enough and King Power Foxes won the game 14-10. La Indiana also earned themselves a place in Wednesday’s Semi Finals after substantially defeating Sifani 16-7 at Billingbear on Sunday 5 June. Patron Michael Bickford contributed to their victory, scoring goals in the first and fourth chukkas. American player Nic Roldan was especially impressive, scoring seven of his team’s tally, but this was very much a team effort. Hilali Noordeen’s Sifani kept them in sight in the first half – the score was 7-5 at half-time, but the damage was done in the fourth. Bickford, Roldan, Julian de Lusaretta and Agustin Merlos scored five goals in this chukka to none in reply from Sifani. Sifani’s Juan Gris Zavalata worked hard at getting free, but with La Indiana winning almost all the throw-ins, the writing was on the wall from the fourth chukka. La Indiana will now play King Power Foxes in the second Semi Final on Wednesday afternoon. The second match, at Guards Polo Club, was a much tighter affair and produced the first golden goal of this year’s competition. Lyndon Lea’s Zacara won the ticket through to the Semi Finals, and a match against Dubai, but it took seven chukkas and a change in personnel to achieve their aim. Their opponents, Ben Soleimani’s RH Polo, produced a brilliant game and the packed stands, enjoying some hot sunshine at last, appreciated the tussle between Lucas Monteverde and Pablo MacDonough for Zacara and Rodrigo Andrade and Nico Pieres for RH Polo. The game had to stop just two minutes in as young Englishman Jack Hyde, who has been playing for Zacara had to retire due to a hand injury suffered earlier in the week. His place was taken by another rising star Juan Jose (JJ) de Alba. Although currently playing in the 15 goal Royal Windsor, this young player made his Cartier Queen’s Cup debut and produced a confident and mature game. RH Polo had snatched the lead (5-4) at the half-time bell, but Monteverde found his way through traffic to equalise for Zacara in the fourth. He followed this up in the fifth with a great run to goal and with MacDonough converting a penalty, it was Zacara who had a two-goal advantage (7-5) six minutes into the penultimate chukka. But with Pieres converting a 40 yard penalty with just a minute left, it was clear this was still anyone’s game. During a nail-biting and action-packed sixth chukka, RH Polo were awarded and successfully converted a penalty with less than a minute left, taking the score to 9-9, and sudden death became a reality. This seventh chukka began with some great runs, but an infringement by RH Polo within a couple of minutes saw MacDonough hit a penalty 30 and secure his Dubai’s place in Wednesday’s Semi Final. The Cartier Queen’s Cup Semi Finals: Wednesday 8 June 12 noon Dubai v Zacara at Guards Polo Club 4pm King Power Foxes v La Indiana at Guards Polo Club (The winner of this match will receive the Hubert Perrodo Trophy) The Cartier Queen’s Cup Subsidiary Semi-Finals: Wednesday 8 June 10.30am HB Polo v RH Polo at Coworth Park 2pm La Bamba de Areco v Sifanai at Coworth Park Photograph: Agustin Merlos fights off two Sifani players for La Indiana. By ©www.imagesofpolo.com
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