Parade through town and by the marina.
Article submitted by Polo Club saint-Tropez Polo Manager Ms. Susan Stovall .
International Polo Cup
July 2nd – 12th 2009..
Saint-Tropez is a beautiful seaside resort village in the French Riviera. Unbelievable yachts and sail boats, beautiful people, shopping and grand sandy beaches bring most tourists to this unique area of Europe. There also is the Polo Club Saint-Tropez, set in the vineyards of the nearby hills, which hosted ten – 15 goal teams for the International Polo Cup. Team patrons were Geoff Palmer, California, Frank Dubarry, France, Kristian Petersson, Dubai, Karen Brink, Monaco, Rommi Gianni, Riccardo Tattoni and Gualtiero Giori, all from Italy, Dean Clark and Bruno Bensoussan, France, Al Shair Fiyaz, Pakistan, and club owner Corinne Schuler, Germany. Madame Schuler has been at helm of Polo Club Saint-Tropez for the past 11 years and truly has made it a place to play polo during the summer months starting with an Easter tournament.
Awards ceremony.
The format was simple as the ten teams were divided into 2 brackets of five – all teams playing each other within the bracket. The winner in each bracket played for the finals on Sunday, July 12. All other teams also played in different subsidiary matches. The Club recognizes that each team is special and all teams were recognized on the podium the day of the finals including the best playing pony, Cubit, played by Matias Nigoul and owned by Al Shair Fiyad of the F Polo Team, sponsored by Vicomte A. and the high scorer for the patrons, Franck Dubarry , received a weekend in the exclusive Hotel Cala di Volpe, in Sardinia.
Mr. Lapo Elkann, international businessman and owner of the Italian fashion brand Italia Independent, attended to the prize giving ceremony offering his special Panama Borsalino in limited edition to the winning team.
La Locura, captained by 7 goaler, Dario Musso, with teammates Rommi Gianni (1), Ignacio Tejerina(3), and Martin Inchauspe(4) seemed to own the first bracket by defeating La Campana, Techno Polo and Saint Tropez soundly and although Villa Sesta, with the Menendez brothers, giving them stiff competition – La Locura went undefeated.
The second bracket again had a clear winner in the F Polo Team. In their first game they were challenged by Aries Technomarine 10 to 9_. The two Bernal brothers leading Aries Techomarine foursome. F Polo team has gone undefeated all season putting their team together in May; the team captain, Justin Gaunt(4), an English player, has a strong combination with Martin Espain (6) Matias Niguol (4). The team patron Al Shair Fiyaz has been unable to play and Charles de Saint Martin (0) was the substitute.
The finals pitted F Polo Team wearing the Hublot shirts against La Locura with the team sponsor Maybach jerseys. F Polo/ Hublot was on fire right from the beginning and was ahead 5 _ to 1 goal after the second chukker with Martin Espain(6) scoring four goals for F Polo/Hublot with one by Martin Inschauspe(4) for La Locura/Maybach. The third chukker Inschauspe scored 3 fast goals bringing the score closer.
The final chukker was fast paced but F Polo/Hublot kept their advantage even though a total of 4 goals were scored by Inschauspe and Dario Musso (7). Martin Espain was the high scorer for F Polo/Hublot with 7 goals and captain of the team, Justin Gaunt (4) had 2 goals. The final score was 9 to 8.
Winner F Polo Team.
A beautiful trophy presentation was organized, honoring all the teams as well as the winners of the International Polo Cup – F Polo Team/Hublot.
Special activities during the week included a polo parade thru the village of Saint-Tropez and an Asado sponsored by Tupungato Winelands of Burco Amercia from Mendoza, Argentina. Sir Hubert Gosse was the host for this great event flying in the wine from his own vineyards and the beef for the party. A gala dinner was hosted by Maybach for all the teams and guests from all over World on Saturday night – truly a great way to end the International Polo Cup.
Pictures:
2009 International Cup Winners – Hublot/F Polo Team left to right
Martin Espain, Justin Gaunt, Matias Nigoul and Chares de St Marie
(action shot)
Justin Gaunt(4) of the F polo Team takes the ball away from Patrick Paillol(3), Tres Maries. Pierre Henri Ngoumou (4) goes for the next shot.
Polo parade through downtown Saint Tropez honors the International Cup and the Maybach and Hublot sponsors ending at the mayor’s residence for a party.
All ten teams are honored on the podium for the International Polo Cup.
F POLO TEAM 1* Pakistan
Al Shair FIYAZ Hcp 0
Justin GAUNT Hcp 4
Diego BRAUN Hcp 5
Martin ESPAIN Hcp 6
LA LOCURA 2* Italie – Italy
Rommi Andrea GIANNI Hcp 1
Dario MUSSO Hcp 7
Ignacio TEJERINA Hcp 3
Martin INCHAUSPE Hcp 4
VILLA SESTA 3* Italie – Italy
Riccardo TATTONI Hcp 0
Francisco MENENDEZ DE ELIA Hcp 7
Eduardo Jose MENENDEZ DE ELIA Hcp 7
Gualtiero GIORI Hcp 1
WASABI 4* Monaco
Karen BRINK Hcp 0
Guillermo WILLINGTON Hcp 7
Carlos Ricardo FARINATI Hcp 6
Dean CLARK Hcp 0
ANTELOPE – USA
Goeffrey PALMER Hcp 0
Caroline ANIER Hcp 2
Fernando REYNOT-BLANCO Hcp 6
Tomas GOTI Hcp 7
LA CAMPANA 6* Suède – Sweden
Kristian PETERSSON Hcp 1
Juan José ARAYA Hcp 6
Edouardo MILES Hcp 4
Joaquin MAIQUEZ Hcp 4
SAINT-TROPEZ 7* Allemagne – Germany
Corinne SCHULER Hcp 0
Fransisco IRASTORZA Hcp 6
Juan Martin GARCIA LABORDE Hcp 5
Julio DE LUSARRETA Hcp 4
TRES MARIAS 8*
France
Hugues MORIN Hcp 0
Pierre-Henri NGOUMOU Hcp 4
Patrick PAILLOL Hcp 3
Olavo NOVAES Hcp 8
ARIES TECHNOMARINE 9* France
Bruno BENSOUSSAN Hcp 0
Martin SIRVENT Hcp 3
David BERNAL Hcp 6
Cristian BERNAL Hcp 6
TECHNO POLO 10* France
Franck DUBARRY Hcp 0
Pablo JAURETCHE Hcp 8
Santiago IRASTORZA Hcp 4
Marcos GARCIA LABORDE Hcp 3
Arbitres – Umpires
Esteban FERRARI & Matias BAIBIENE