Seated at the head table left to right: Hugo Barabucci, Captain for Ghantoot Land Rover, Oscar Colombres, Captain for ADCB Polo Team, HE Saeed Bin Houfan Al Mansoori, Vice Chairman Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club, Jorge Cernadas, ADCB Polo Team.

Abu Dhabi’s HH President of the UAE Polo Cup To Be Biggest of Season

Recent Gold Cup Champions Habtoor bid to wrestle title from hosts Ghantoot

Abu Dhabi, 14^th March: Eight teams representing the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are preparing to fight for honours in Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club’s annual H.H. President of the UAE Polo Cup.

The showpiece event, held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chairman of Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club will be held at Abu Dhabi’s Royal club between the March 18 and March 30 and is the largest polo tournament in the region.

A record of eight teams will contest the title including UAE sides ADCB, Abu Dhabi, Bin Drai Polo, Desert Palm, defending champions Ghantoot Land Rover and recent Gold Cup champions, Habtoor Polo.

Sumaya Polo represents Jordan while Zedan Polo represents Saudi Arabia.

This year the event will feature two groups showcasing the talents of emerging Emirati players as well as high-goal professionals from Argentina. Umpiring the match will be two officials who have presided over matches at the highest level of polo – the Argentine Open in Buenos Aires.

Hugo Barabucci, polo captain of Ghantoot Land Rover Polo team said he was looking forward to a high standard of polo at the season-closing event.

“It’s great to see so many teams entering the tournament, it really demonstrates how much the passion for polo in this country and around the Middle East is growing” he said. “Now that we are approaching the end of the season, all the teams have had a few tournaments to practice and we are really looking forward to our biggest and toughest test so far this year.

“We have been practicing hard because we know the standard is going to be very high."Dr Majdi Abd El Muhdi, Corporate Communications , Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank said:  “This is the third year running that we have supported the Ghantoot’s HH President of the UAE Polo Cup and we are proud to continue our association with both the club and this tournament.

 “We feel that Ghantoot’s brand of accessible, family-oriented polo sits very well with our commitment to promote both elite and grass-roots sport, ambition and team work to our community.

“Through the sponsorship of our team, ADCB Polo, we pay tribute to these great equestrian athletes and the brave men who ride them in the elegant, yet fast-paced game of polo.

“ADCB endeavors to serve the community through supporting sports and social events as part our corporate social responsibility.”

The President’s Cup grand final will take place on March 30 with free family activities, picnic area and Carluccio’s corporate hospitality and restaurant. All games including the grand final are free to attend and open to the public.

HE Saeed Bin Houfan Al Mansoori, Vice Chairman Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club said: “As always when His Highness Sheikh Falah hosts large tournaments we are throwing open our gates and inviting members of the public to come along and enjoy a high standard of polo and a great family day out.

“We believe that the great sport of polo should be accessible to anybody who is interested which is why we do not charge an entry fee. We are looking forward to an exciting two-weeks of top class polo.”

The event is presented by Abu Dhabi Commercial bank and the Official Car is Land Rover and Premier Motors. It is supported by Bespoke Italia, Carluccio’s, Fiji Water and Prisa Polo.

TEAMS

N Name   HCP

ADCB  (13)

1  Abdullah B. Desmal 1

2  Ramiro Cordero 2

3 Jorge Cernadas 5

4 Bruno Tassara 4

Abu Dhabi (11)

1 Faris Al Yabhouni  0

2 Alfredo Cappella  5

3 Patricio Neves  6

4  Ignacio Uriarte  0

Bin Drai (13)

1  Rashid Bin Drai   0

2  Nicolas Petracchi   4

3  Tomas Iriarte   4

4  Vieri Antinori   5

Desert Palm (12)

1 Tariq Albwardy  0

2 Ian Mathew Lodder 3

3 Matias Machado  4

4 Martin Valent   5

Sub Thomas Claesen  0

N Name    HCP

Ghantoot Land Rover (13)

1 Nasser Al Dhaheri  1

2  Rubin Reynal  0

3  Oscar Colombres  5

4  Hugo Barabucci  7

Habtoor (13)

1 Mohammed Al Habtoor 0

2 Matias Olano.   1

3 Guillermo Cutino   6

4 Fran Elizalde   6

Sub:  Ahmed Habtoor   0

Sumaya (13)

1  Faisal Yabroudi   0

2 Guy Gibarat    3

3 Augustin Canale  6

4 Pablo Vellila   4

Sub  Kareem Abughazaleh  0

Zedan (13

1 Amr Zedan     0

2 Manuel Elizalde    2

3 Matias "Bocha"   3

4 Ignacio "Nachi" Heguy 8

SCHEDULE 

Keep up with news and results regarding the H.H President of UAE Polo Cup on Facebook “Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club" or visit: www.presidentpolocup.ae 

ABOUT OUR KEY SPONSORS:

ABOUT ADCB

ADCB is a full-service commercial bank which offers a wide range of products and services such as retail banking, wealth management, private banking, corporate banking, commercial banking, cash management, investment banking, corporate finance, foreign exchange, interest rate, currency, derivative and Islamic products, project finance, property management and strategic investments.

ADCB is owned 58.08 percent by the Abu Dhabi Government through Abu Dhabi Investment Council. Its shares are traded on the Abu Dhabi Securities Market in Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, ADCB, has won the Silver class category of The Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award (SKEA) for the finance sector and also was recently named "Best Retail Bank in the UAE & GCC 2010" by The Asian Banker magazine.

ABOUT LAND ROVER PREMIER MOTORS

Premier Motors is a subsidiary of Al Tayer Motors, one of the UAE's premier automobile dealerships, and represents Ford, Lincoln, Land Rover, Jaguar, Ferrari, Maserati and Spyker cars in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. The company's automotive portfolio also includes DAF Trucks.

Premier Motors' showrooms are located at Khalidiya in Abu Dhabi and Senayya in Al Ain. Service and parts centre is located in Mussaffah.

Should you wish to test drive a Ford, Lincoln, Land Rover or Jaguar vehicle, please call the showroom on 02 6917000. The contact number for the Ferrari and Maserati showroom is 02 4935000

 

 

Representatives from all the 8 teams in the President’s Cup 2012

Roxanne Contractor / Events Manager

 

Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club

PO Box 7144 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

www.grpc.ae