The 22-goal Silver Cup, the second tournament of the Polo Challenge 2017 kicked off today at two locations: Lechuza Caracas RD and Los Establos. The tournament organized by Lechuza Caracas and Casa de Campo has already been proving the international polo audience that the Dominican Republic is an already consolidated high goal polo destination that is perfectly complemented by the broad leisure offerings and top notch lodging options.
Before the start of the Silver Cup, this past Friday, the finals of the 12-goal Bronze Cup took place. The two favorites, La Potranca and Pitirri-El Palenque played a very thrilling match on which Pitirri lead for half of the game; but by the fourth chukka, La Potranca geared up and stole the pole position. The teams were tied on chukka 6, so they had to go to overtime, when finally La Potranca scored once again and emerged victorious.
Today, as mentioned, was the day of the start of the Silver Cup. At 2pm, the action took place in Lechuza Caracas RD, where the local team met Sebucan-HPA (former Alegría-El Milagro). Cubi Toccalino opened the scoreboard for his team Sebucan, scoring one goal on the first chukka. On the second one, Pelón Stirling managed to score for his team, and a goal by Gonzalo Mendoza followed, meaning that by the end of the second chukka Sebucan-HPA was leading by 2-1. On the third chukka, Alfredo and Victor Vargas shot two goals for their team, followed by Julian Mannix, and the game was tied by 3-3. By the end of the 5th, the game was again tied thanks to a goal by Gonzalo Mendoza, 5-5. But on the last period, Juan Martin Nero stepped up scoring two goals in a row and securing the victory for his team Lechuza Caracas, by 7-5.
Later on, the thrill was moved to Los Establos, where two teams would make their debut on the 22-goal category: Cinque Terre and La Potranca. The first chukkas were fast-paced and lead by La Potranca, who maintained the control until the end of the fourth period. But on the 5th chukka, on an exciting turn of events, Cinque Terre turn the game upside down on its favor, and won by 10-8. Santiago Toccalino, scoring seven goals for his team Cinque Terre, was the star of the game, and Nacho Novillo Astrada, who made his 2017 debut today, also had a remarkable performance.
The 22-goal Silver Cup games continue on Thursday, February 9th: Cinque Terre will meet Sebucan-HPA, while Casa de Campo will take on La Potranca.
22-GOAL SILVER CUP TEAMS:
LECHUZA CARACAS
Victor Vargas
Alfredo Vargas
Pelón Stirling
Juan M. Nero
SEBUCAN-HPA
Gonzalo Mendoza
Julian Mannix
Ignacio Toccalino
Fred Mannix
CINQUE TERRE
Alessandro Bazzoni
Juanchi Ambroggio
Santiago Toccalino
Gerardo Collardin
CASA DE CAMPO
Leo Matos
Francisco Bensadón
Silvestre Donovan
Ramiro Garrós
LA POTRANCA
Tony Rivera
Lalo James
Gonzalo Deltour
Ignacio Novillo Astrada
Polo Challenge RD
The Polo Challenge represents Polo’s first high season in Central America and the Caribbean based in the Dominican Republic. The series of 4 tournaments of up to 22 goals is made during the months of January to April and is conformed by: Gold Cup, Silver Cup, Bronze Cup and Caribbean Open.
Casa de Campo, Los Establos / Cap Cana and Lechuza are the 3 chosen venues, with first level courts prepared to receive players of the size of the 10 handicap goals. The Polo Challenge is an event for the whole family that opened its first season in January 2016.
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