(left to right) Rowland Wong, Oliver Cudmore, Chairman Pan Sutong, Oliver Hipwood, Max Routledge
Final: England 7: Argentina 6
3rd/4th play-off: France 9: HK Goldin 7
(Tianjin, China, 20 February, 2011) – – Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club (“Metropolitan Polo Club”), the most prestigious private polo club with the largest polo facilities in China, saw the birth of the champion of Asia’s first ever ‘Snow Polo’ tournament.
The name of the tournament, ‘Goldin International Snow Polo Challenge’, came to a spectacular conclusion today. Crowds filled the podiums to watch the 4-chukka match final between Team Argentina and Team England. Both teams had played very strong in previous games. The final saw Team England and Team Argentina ended the first chukka in 1:1, by the end of the second chukka, Argentina scored one more goal, bringing the scores at 2:1 before the half time.
The third chukka saw Team England catching up hitting 4 goals in a row, putting the scores of the 3rd chukka at 5:3. The fourth chukka saw fast and furious play with Argentina catching up with three goals and one goal from England, tying the scores at 6:6 just a few minutes before the end of the final. But just about a minute before the end of the 4th chukka, Oliver Hipwood from Team England struck the winning goal and the England team came out of the game at 7:6.
Each member from Team England was awarded a handcrafted crystal trophy, presented by Chairman Pan Sutong, Chairman of Goldin Properties Holdings Limited (“Goldin Properties”). The team’s name will be etched onto the crystal Metropolitan Vase champion trophy which will stay at the Metropolitan Polo Club. Goldin Properties is the developer of Metropolitan Polo Club and the title sponsor of Asia’s first snow polo challenge, “Goldin International Snow Polo Challenge.”.
The 4-chukka match for 3rd and 4th place was contested by the teams from France and Hong Kong Goldin with the final scores 9:7 in team France’s favour.
The final between England and Argentina brought to a close an exciting, action packed week, in which teams from England, France, New Zealand, Australia and Team Hong Kong Goldin battled it out on the snow polo field in matches played in a league format. Each team of three players competed on a 100 x 50 yards (91.44m long x 45.72m wide) polo field of compacted snow.
All 60 polo ponies which competed in the “Goldin International Snow Polo Challenge” are Australian-bred and owned by Metropolitan Polo Club. The ponies underwent special training in early January to acclimatize them to the snow and each was padded with anti-slip, studded horseshoes for cushioning and better grip on the snow.
The “Goldin International Snow Polo Challenge” was the first-ever snow polo tournament to feature all professional players sanctioned by their national associations.
The event on average was attended by over 1,000 guests daily.
The event also saw foreign dignitaries, including polo veterans Mr. Harald Link, President of the Southeast Asian Equestrian Association, Mr. John Tinsley, the Director of Hurlingham Polo Association, Mr. Gordon Gibson, President of the New Zealand Polo Association, Mr. Howard Hipwood, Hurlingham Polo Association Adjudicator and former England National Team Captain, who is also the team manager for Team England.
The Most Valuable Player Award went to Santiago Gaztambide in team Argentina, the the best pony award for Snow Polo went to Hazard.
Commenting on the success of the Metropolitan Polo Club’s first ever Snow Polo Cup, Chairman Pan said “I am delighted that this tournament went off so smoothly and introduced world class snow polo to China. I would like to express our thanks to all the particiapting polo teams, officials from the polo community, our sponsors and our special guests for their invaluable support, I am confident that this will become a major event on China’s winter sports calendar.”
Through events and tournaments held at Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club, we hope to play a part in making Tianjin a landmark destination, and contribute to its overall progress towards its deserved status as an international city.”
Metropolitan Polo Club features state-of-the-art facilities including two international-sized polo fields and stabling for 150 horses, training facilities, riding school and a prestigious Clubhouse.
Metropolitan Polo Club is part of the Goldin Metropolitan project, developed by headed by leading Hong Kong-listed developer Goldin Properties Holdings Limited (SEHK. 283).
Forthcoming international polo tournaments and events include:
- The China Cup in spring will be an invitational tournament open to all HPA affiliated polo clubs in China.
- The ‘Ambassador’s Cup’ in summer 2011 which aims to foster intercultural and international relations amongst polo teams from around the world and is set to be the biggest event of the year,
- ‘The Goldin Charity Cup’ in autumn 2011, will promote polo in China highlighting social responsibility and goodwill with a charity component.
‘Goldin International Snow Polo Challenge’ Match results are listed below:
Tuesday, 15 February 2011:
14:00 Game 1: Team Argentina defeated Team Australia 6-3
16:00 Game 2: Team Hong Kong Goldin defeated Team France 9-5
Wednesday, 16 February 2011:
14:00 Game 1: Team Argentina defeated Team England 3-1
15:30 Game 2: Team France defeated Team New Zealand 6-3
17:00 Game 3: Team Hong Kong Goldin defeated Team Australia 6-2
Thursday, 17 February 2011:
14:00 Game 1: Team England defeated Team New Zealand 6-1
16:00 Game 2: Team Argentina defeated Team France 3-2
Friday, 18 February 2011:
14:00 Game 1: Team Australia ties with Team New Zealand 4-4
16:00 Game 2: Team Hong Kong Goldin ties with Team England 4-4
Saturday, 19 February 2011 – Semi Finals:
14:00 Semi Final 1: Team England defeated Team Hong Kong Goldin 7- 6
16:00 Semi Final 2: Team Argentina defeated Team France 4-3
Sunday, 20 February 2011 – 3rd and 4th Place Play Off
14:00 Team France defeated Team Hong Kong Goldin 9 – 7
Sunday 20th February – Final
16:00 Team England defeated Team Argentina 7 – 6
Sponsors of Asia’s First Snow Polo
The sponsors of Asia’s first Snow Polo event include China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd, a listed construction company among the World’s 500, Gulfstream, a US-based designer, developer, marketer and service provider of the world’s most advanced business jet aircraft, Kallister, a designer-based, full-suite
bathroom and kitchen collections plumbing manufacturer in San Francisco, US, East China Architecture Design & Research Institute Co. Ltd, a multi-discipline architecture firm in Shanghai, The P&T Group, the oldest and largest international architectural engineering practice in the South East Asia, who is also the architect for the Metropolitan Polo Club project, Poggenpohl Shanghai, part of the German kitchen brand Poggenpohl.