As a long polo season winds down, the KLPC Low Goal League Tournament 2 is the last that we will play at the Kuala Lumpur Polo Club. KLAP and La Sarita had planned to play the two low goals together, and despite a tiring season for both sets of horses, KLARITA will ride again.
I’m looking forward to playing with Ameer Jumabhoy again. We had a lot of fun, winning the first KLPC low goal tournament. But our team has had to make some changes.
Young Amirul Aimann, who played so well in May, has to concentrate on his up-coming SPM exams. Aimann will not be available to play in this tournament. Ali Reda, past polo captain of the Singapore Polo Club, will step into his place. Ali is very experienced, and a very good athlete in many sports.
Julian Lancia, who was MVP in May, will be on an ISKL field trip to Nepal, and will miss the weekday games. Hopefully he returns fit enough to play the weekend. Julian’s place will be taken by my friend, Neville Stewart, the President of Perth Polo Club, who is flying in for a bit of fun during the week.
Neville played in Argentina on the KLAP Argentine Open Polo Tour last year, and also came with us on the Royal Tour of Chitral and the Shandur Polo Festival. Neville is of the same vintage as me, and plays off a handicap of 0. It’s a more mature KLARITA team. Hopefully we can do as well.
La Familia Windhorse Gold will field the same line-up of Datin Nurul Noorajala, Jennifer Too, Dr Azfar Mustapha and the mercurial Amran Selamat, as they did in May. We had two fantastic matches against them then. This time will be as tough, if not tougher.
Kelantan Polo will play with 2-goaler Abdul Rashid Hasnan, Amar Amran, Azhar Abdullah, and Khairul Azman. They too will be very tough to beat.
Dato’ Mohamed Moiz will field La Familia team with his sons Suleiman and Arman sharing a game with HH Tengku Reyad, with Muhammad Faizal (Cupita) shoring up the defence.
The draw will be held on Saturday 21st October, and games will begin on Tuesday 24th October. I hope we get an easy game to start, though I suspect there may be no easy games.
Teaching and travelling does take its toll. I really haven’t played much this season and consequently, I am terribly unfit. Running is no longer an option as a way to get fit – no amount of Bute will help me stay sound. I’ve started to try and play my way into fitness, but I have probably started too late. I just hope to somehow make it through the first couple of games and use them to get playing fit.
The ponies will really have to be managed too. While we have some depth of quantity, the KLAP ponies have been playing very low goal tournaments and have had a lot of work to do in lessons and instructional chukkas. Asking them to go for one more, and a faster one at that, will not be an easy task.
We have started to increase their rations of Nutrenics Green Napier and Zack’s Tack Polo Mix.
Likewise, Ameer and La Sarita have had an awesome season, winning the first low goal with us, and winning the Tan Sri Jamaludin Jarjis Cup in August. Their ponies are tired.
Ali Reda has just sent up three more ponies from Singapore to bolster his string at the Kuala Lumpur Polo Club. Most of his ponies are thoroughbreds, two with the famous Ellerston E brand on them.
Now that should add some zing to the game!
Related Links:
Klarita Kills It
The Best Seat in the House
KLPC Low Goal League 1
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