Mon 24th Oct 2016Hurlingham Open BeginsFour games in two days After a reschedule of the opening games in The Hurlingham Open due to rain, games finally got underway at the weekend. Two games in each of the leagues were played with La Dolfina and Ellerstina predictably winning their first round. Cría Yatay had a tough start on Saturday 22 October as they took on La Dolfina. The team put up a valiant fight but the ending was not pretty with a score of 23-9. The story was very similar for La Irenita who took on Tortugas finalists Ellerstina on Sunday 23 October with a final score of 21-6. The form for all the teams in this tournament, and The Triple Crown in general, meant that these impressive wins were on the cards for the lower handicapped teams that qualified to play. El Paraíso have had a great start to their Hurlingham Open campaign, winning against the Novillo Astrada family team with a respectable score of 11-10 having dominated the score-line throughout the game with La Aguada Las Monjitas catching up in the last chukka coming from 11-7 to 11-10. There was a change in the La Aguada line-up as Francisco Elizalde stepped in to replace an inured Eduardo Novillo Astrada. Alegría also had a positive day in the Zone B games defeating the black and red shirts of Washington with a score of 14-11. In the second round of games, Washington and La Aguada Las Monjitas have their toughest opponents as they will play Ellerstina and La Dolfina respectively, where it is unlikely to change the course of the two top teams as they journey through to the Finals. The others, El Paraíso against Cría Yatay and Alegría against La Irenita will be more fun to watch as these four are more evenly matched. To see the full schedule, results and team lists click here. Photograph: El Paraíso have certainly upped their game in the team tent department in the Hurlingham Open. By ©www.imagesofpolo.com/Eduardo Grunberg |