Ghantoot Crowned Gold Cup Champions After Defeat Of Habtoor

Young Abu Dhabi Side Down Defending Champions 14-6

Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club took home their biggest scalp of the season this afternoon (Friday), when they wrestled the Dubai Polo Gold Cup away from defending champions and hosts, Habtoor Polo in a 14-6 victory at Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club.

The Dubai Polo Gold Cup is considered one of the sport’s biggest titles in the region and is the concluding tournament in a series that also includes the Dubai Silver Cup.

Habtoor, the defending champions and 2013 Dubai Silver Cup holders, began the match as justifiable favourites, having defeated the Royal Abu Dhabi club 8-7 in golden goal extra time in the preliminaries. Yet Ghantoot did hold  form over the home side prior to this match after orchestrating a 9-7 victory over Habtoor in a charity match at Ghantoot last month.

Ghantoot made their way into this final following their 10-5 semi-final win over today’s subsidiary final winners, Bin Drai Polo, but did weather two scares after suffering another defeat, also by golden goal, at the hands of capital city rivals, Abu Dhabi Polo, before the knock-out stages.

Ghantoot finished the first chukker with a single goal lead for a 2-1 scoreline. By the end of the second period, Ghantoot had doubled their goal tally, to lead 4-2 over Habtoor.

The third period proved rich pickings for a dominant Ghantoot, with the side's top goalscorer, Facundo Sola, Pelayo Berazadi and Juan Zubiaurre all getting onto the scoreboard, which read 9-3 by the time the claxon went.

Habtoor, never a team to underestimate no matter the scoreline, executed a revival in the fourth period of this five-chukker final, with Ezequiel Martinez scoring twice to bring his side’s haul to five.

But the visitors could taste victory and a flurry of fast-paced play late in the period saw three more Ghantoot goals. Then an angled strike from Emirati player, Ali Al Merri seconds before the end of the chukker brought the score to 13-5 in favour of Ghantoot and left Habtoor facing an uphill battle to save the championship in the fifth and final period.

It wasn’t to be Habtoor’s day. Sola notched again in the fifth period and the best the hosts could muster at that late stage was a consolation goal from Guillermo Cuitino to see out the game 14-6 to Ghantoot.

The Ghantoot players, who play under the patronage of HH Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan embraced on the field following the conclusion of the match and Al Merri was lifted high on the shoulders of Ghantoot’s jubilant travelling fans.

“It’s a great feeling to have won this tournament,” he said later. “It has been a principle focus of ours since the start of the season and to achieve such an important goal is incredibly gratifying as a team.

“We did not have the smoothest progression throughout this tournament, but we survived to the final and the produced our best polo on the day and that’s really what matters. Habtoor are a very tough team and, as you can see from all our past meetings, the results are always very close when we play each other.”

HE Saeed Bin Houfan Al Mansouri, Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club Vice Chairman said the club was now focusing on Ghantoot's biggest tournament of the season, the HH President’s Cup, which starts on March 24. The finals will be held on April 5.

“Congratulations to the players and staff at Ghantoot Racing & Polo Club,” he said. “This victory has come as the result of a lot of hard work and it’s pleasing to see that this has earned us real rewards. Now we focus on hosting the H.H. President of UAE Polo Cup 2013 where no doubt we will be treated to more fast-paced and exciting polo.”