Stars come out for Beach Polo Cup
Organisers of Dubai championship decide to move games to the cool winter evenings
For the first time since the Beach Polo Cup was launched in the UAE 13 years ago, the games will open under the stars tomorrow.
The two-day event, which runs until Friday, was moved to December to take advantage of the cooler weather, replacing its April fixture.
Four teams of international and local athletes and about 120 horses will take part in the tournament at a purpose-built venue in Skydive Dubai.
“This time we decided to start the polo at night, when the sun goes down.
“We will have a full night polo event on Thursday for the first time with the first game starting at 9pm. It will be polo under the stars of Dubai,” said Sam Katiela, who came up with the concept of beach polo in 2004. The game is now played in 38 cities.
“If we had not made the move from the first weekend of April to December, the dates would have been too close to Ramadan. We also took the decision due to weather conditions over the past two years, with temperatures rising, as well as wind and rain in April,” he said.
Mr Katiela came up with the idea for the game when he watched a snow polo game in St Moritz, Switzerland.
His plan met with scepticism in Dubai at first: “People laughed at the idea and it took some people time to believe in us,” he said.
“We have two giant patrons, the Habtoor family and Ali Al Bawadi’s family, who have supported us with horses and players. This has become a vehicle to promote Dubai as open and safe for tourism and business.”
About 48 lorryloads of sand are required to cover the polo field and three-and-a-half tonnes of equipment to build the arena, which takes three weeks to set up and about a week to dismantle.
“The area for regular polo is 10 times bigger [than the area for beach polo].
“Beach polo is a very hard game because we are playing in an arena that is only 50 by 100 metres,” Mr Katiela said.
The smaller ground means spectators are very close to the action as players are tested. “The viewer has great access to discover and enjoy the game because they are very close to the field,” Mr Katiela said.
Another difference is the ball. Instead of the hard ball used in field polo, a modified, inflatable red ball is used for beach and snow polo that is safer for the players.
The game’s founder said that safety was a key focus for the contest’s organisers.
“Our biggest hope is that none of the horses or players get injured,” he said.
“We want players to be safe if they fall and we want to secure the horses as well. We have had some accidents with falls from horses but there have been no serious injuries.”
The event is held under the patronage of the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed.