HEAR ME ROAR

Saddle up for the 2013 Malaysian Ladies Polo Championships

BAZAAR returned to the Royal Selangor Polo Club for the Malaysian Ladies Polo Championships 2013, presented by Visa. “This is the second year of this tournament, and it has already developed into one of the best ladies tournaments in the region,” said His Royal Highness Tengku Abdullah, president of the Royal Malaysian Polo Association.

Battling it out this year were four teams: Jennzilla, Butterfly Twists, La Boheme, and La Pampa-GTM, with the latter two making it to the final. Jennzilla had put up quite a fight throughout the championship but in the end were defeated with a score of 1 – 6.5 by Butterfly Twists, who went home with the Jaeger-LeCoultre Cup.

A heavy bout of rain had spectators worried for a while but the skies soon cleared. The two final teams went head to head for the Visa Cup, which ultimately went to La Pampa-GTM with 4 – 4.5.

“We’re so happy that we won,” enthused Melissa Tiernan. “There was great team play; we all worked together really hard. The conditions were not ideal but we pulled through. Good job for both teams!”

“This is unbelievable! I never thought that we could beat La Boheme; they were the champions last year and they have the best polo player in the world, Sunny Hale,” shared polo patron Fazila Filippi, who was concerned for the team’s safety seeing the condition of the field after the rain. “Of course, credit goes to my two pros, Claire Donnelly and Sarah Wiseman, for such international game. They kept going non-stop from chukka number one to chukka number four, and encouraged me and Melissa Tiernan to keep hard at it. It was a real moment; here we thought we were the underdogs of the four teams, and we emerged champions!”