Thai Polo patron Dato’ Harald Link scored a game tying 30 yarder with seconds left in the Thai Polo Open Final. With the game tied at 7-7 at the first bell of the final chukka, the game went on on for an additional 30 seconds. It was Tang Polo that broke away to score in this period, to win the Thai Polo Open 2020.
Although Chinese patron Liu Shilai had played at Thai Polo before, this was the first time that he played the Thai Polo Open as Tang Polo. His team of Carlos Ulloa, Diego Gomez and Dario Musso got off to a slow start, losing 8 – 6 to Thai Polo. It was their only loss of the tournament, as they grew from strength to strength, winning their next four games and avenging the loss in the final yesterday.
Tang Polo played a hard brand of 3-man galloping polo. Their horses, from King Power, made some of the comfortable dealers sit up and take notice of the new benchmark that they will have to live up to.
If the finish of the grand final was exciting, it could not match the ding-dong battle that was the subsidiary. Royal Pahang started the better with two goals in the opening minutes, but La Familia came back to tie and then lead. The lead changed hands every chukka. La Familia seemed to have the advantage with a two goal lead going into the final three minutes on the back of excellent penalty shooting by Matias Vial. Royal Pahang never gave up and they were tied the game just before the bell. It went into sudden death overtime, before La Familia finally overcame Royal Pahang 10-9.
The morning’s 5th/6th place play-off was won 9-8 by Jogo Polo over 22 BR.
The RMPA International League standings after the first of five league tournaments played:
Related Links:
Close qualifiers in Thai Polo Open
Thai Polo Open 2020
