August at Guards Polo Club has a new trophy to talk about. The Prince of Wales’s Championship Cup, a 22-goal tournament launched this summer, held its first final on Sunday 22 August, and Park Place beat Monterosso 5-4 to become the first team to have its name engraved on it.
A new tournament in the diary
The club announced the event on 30 April, with dates running from 1 to 22 August, and said it hoped spectators would be able to attend if the rules eased as expected. Talacrest sponsored the tournament in its first year. A 22-goal tournament sits a level below the highest-handicap events, so it widens the choice of competitive polo on the English calendar.
The final
Park Place, the team of Andrey Borodin, led 3-1 at half-time. Monterosso, coached by Alessandro Bazzoni, stayed in the game with a late penalty, and Facundo Sola missed two chances in the sixth chukka, so the score stayed at 5-4. The two sides had met in the league stage as well, where Park Place won 9-8 on 13 August. Park Place reached the final by beating Vikings 10-9 on the seventh day.
In the Talacrest Trophy match played alongside, Bardon beat UAE Polo Team 10-9 in extra time, so the day finished with two close results.
Why it matters
For Park Place it is a second silverware of the English summer, after taking the subsidiary final of the Queen’s Cup in June. For Guards, it gives the club a new trophy to build a tradition around.
New tournaments take time to become part of a calendar. If the first final is anything to go by, the Prince of Wales’s Championship Cup has made a promising start, with tight scores and a tense finish.
Sources: Polo+10, Polo+10 (day 7 report)
