Monday, November 05, 2007

Argentine Polo tournament

I was invited to the semifinals of Hurlingham open at the Hurlingham club today. La Dolfina beat Chapa Uno by 17-15. It was not surprising since the world number one Adolfo Cambaiazo played for El Dolfino. He is the Tiger Woods of polo. His game was indeed very impressive. He is fast on the horse and is an artist with the polo ball. He was the youngest player to win a 10 goal handicap at the age of 19. He has won every medal and tournament in polo.

This is the polo season in argentina. They have three majors: Tortuga open, Hurlingham Open, and Palermo Open.

The number of ten handicappers in the world is eleven, all of them from Argentina.
There are 2000 polo grounds in Argentina. many of them private in farm estates. Hurlingham itself has 5 polo grounds. The number of polo clubs affiliated to the Argentine Polo Association is over 150.

Pepe, the Argentine friend and player who was explaining to me the finer details of the game has two children who have been on the horse since the age of two. They have been playing polo since six years of age. Pepe's grand father was a polo champ. Like him there are many families with polo tradition.

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