AM-UAE Polo and Ghantoot shine on third day of Gold Cup

The third day of the Standard Chartered Gold Cup started with a ceremonial ball toss to celebrates the 150th anniversary of Polo in the modern era and the formation of rules that have evolved to form the game of Friday.

AM-UAE Polo team scored the first goal of the match, and the game took on an exciting start as Abu Dhabi polo team matched this with three consecutive goals taking the lead in their favour.

The second chukker opened with a goal from Faris Al Yabhouni, patron of Abu Dhabi Polo team and Jacinto Crotto and Santiago Cernadas levelled the game by the sound of the buzzer.

Abu Dhabi had regained their lead by mid of the 3rd chukker but AM-UAE was relentless, and both teams were tied by halftime.

The penultimate chukker continued with the same intensity and ended with one-goal advantage for Abu Dhabi.

The last chukker started with a penalty shot from Santiago Cernadas, and both teams played hard for the win. It was the last goal from Ignacio Acuña that bagged the win for AM-UAE Polo with a final score of 9 goals to 8.

The next match was between Ghantoot Polo and Dubai Wolves with the goal from Juan Gris Zavaleta. The first chukker ended with one-goal lead for Ghantoot Polo, and the team had control of the game until the last chukker.

Juan Gris and the team's patron Habtoor Al Habtoor were able to score in goals at the last chukker. However, the advantage that Ghantoot built over the previous four chukkers won them the match at 9 goals to 5.

Dubai Polo Gold Cup Series was founded in 2009 by Mohammed Al Habtoor, patron of the Habtoor Polo team.

Growing rapidly every year, the Gold Cup (Dubai Open) was recognised by the World Polo Tour (WPT); in January 2014, the WPT committee credited the Gold Cup tournament as the highest competition in terms of points within the WPT Challenge Cup category, elevating it to 50 points for the winner.

2015 marked the first time ever that the WPT upgraded the Gold Cup Tournament from ‘Challenge Cup’ to the highly coveted ‘WPT Cup’, resulting in winners receiving 60 points.

In 2017, the tournament was moved up to WPT Championship Cup – the highest competition point-wise, awarding its winners with 125 points. The Silver Cup is ranked under the WPT Cup category, with 50 points for winners and the Dubai Challenge Cup falls under the WPT Challenge Cup Category, awarding its winners with 20 points.