Red-hot Abu Dhabi storm into Emirates Polo final
abu dhabi — Abu Dhabi Polo stormed into the final of the 17th Emirates Open Polo Championship when they put on a stellar performance to defeat Wolves Mahra Polo Team 11-6 on Sunday evening.
The defending champions, led by Faris al Yabhouni, will take their impressive form into Friday’s final having won all four of their qualification matches.
In their previous matches, Abu Dhabi beat Maserati Polo Team 11-6, UAE Polo Team 6-2 and Desert Palm Polo Team 7-6.
In a another qualification game at the vibrant Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club, Desert Palm kept alive their hopes of reaching the final when they narrowly beat the luckless UAE 9-8. UAE suffered their third defeat.
The Emirates Open Polo Championship is one of the region’s premier
11-6 Victory for Abu Dhabi Polo against Maserati
polo events.
Tuesday’s final qualification matches take on great significance as they will determine the second finalist. Maserati meet Desert Palm and Wolves take on UAE.
In the event of Maserati, Desert Palm or Wolves winning, it will force a play-off game between the two to decide the finalist as both teams will finish on equal points (6 from three wins).
Al Yabhouni, who has been instrumental in helping build the confidence and spirit in his titlewinning team, said he loves a challenge and this was quite evident on Sunday evening when Abu Dhabi produced one of their strongest performances of the tournament to outshine their opponents.
All four members of the team put their names on the scoredboard in the very first chukker as they pumped in four goals to a solitary goal scored by Diego Gallego for the Wolves.
Abu Dhabi were never headed at a point in the match thereafter as star Argentinian players Satiago Cernadas (5 goals) and Patricio Cieza (4) went on a scoring spree. Gallego would score two more and Tomas Iriate three for the Wolves, but it was not good enough to rein in an exuberant team Abu Dhabi. “The plan was always to take it one step at a time and that’s what we’ve done,” said Al Yabhouni.