NSW Polo Association member Adam Buchert reports:
World Cup Snow Polo report
On the final day of preliminary games, Sunday 12th January, it was still possible for Australia to qualify for the quarter finals. If they won their game against Spain they would have gone into a penalty shoot out against Chile for the 4th spot in the quarter finals.
It was not to be in 2014. The Australian team played their best polo of the tournament in this final game but the team still came away winless.
At the end of the 3rd and final chukka It was 4 all after Australia failed to get their final goal across the line before the final bell.
It was an amazing shot by Ruki Baillieu to get the ball 1 meter out from the goal mouth but Ed Goold was unable to connect with the ball and push it through.
This meant Australia had to go into a penalty shoot out with Spain to decide the winner and as a result of some poor hits by Baillieu and Dirk Gould Australia was knocked out of the tournament without making the quarter finals.
This Tournament is extremely competitive and the Australians will need to change the way they approach this tournament if they are to improve their international ranking for next year.
The current teams going through to the quarters after a series of penalty shoot outs on Tuesday are...
NZ
UK
Hong Kong China
USA
Mexico
Chile
Brazil
France
The Teams going home are
Australia
Canada
South Africa
Spain
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11th Jan 2014
Results from Day 3 of the Snow Polo World Cup from China.
The Australian team played the UK today. The Australian line up changed with Dirk Gould coming in and Kelvin Johnson stepping out.
The team did play better today with a big improvement from Ruki Baillieu but they still went down after a very physical match by 5 goals to 3.
The Australians got off to a good start but it was England who were stronger over the final chukka.
In other results Hong Kong China just beat Chile with a great performance by Guillermo Terrera for Hong Kong China but the winning goal was only scored in the final 10 seconds due to a great performance by Chile to push the host nation all the way. Matias Vial was very good for Chile.
In the final game it was Spain Vs Mexico and both teams needed the win to keep their 2014 hopes alive but it was an amazing goal by Carlos Gracida with 2 seconds left that sealed the very close match for Mexico.
Australia have one more game to go but based on their performances to date it looks doubtful they will proceed to the quarter finals.
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10th Jan 2014
Dear Polo Fans,
I am here at the Fortune Heights Snow Polo World Cup at the Metropolitan Polo Club in Tianjin China. This city is 2 hours drive from Bejing with a population of 14 Million people.
I am currently on assignment doing the English speaking commentary for Now Sports a cable TV channel in Hong Kong.
All I can say is WOW this facility and this development are surreal. The polo complex is the foundation stone for a luxury residential development worth Billions of Dollars. There are 300 horses here in work and most of these are Australian ponies. The Manger is Derek Reid who is also an Australian and these guys have put on an amazing tournament.
All teams have now completed their first round preliminary matches.
The Opening game saw the host team and defending champions Hong Kong China just sneak through over Spain with a goal to John Fisher in the final 2 seconds.
The next game saw the Australian Team of Ed Goold, Kelvin Johnson and Ruki Baillieu get a lesson on how to play on the snow from the Chileans. With Chile winning by 4 goals to 0.
Nothing really went right for the Aussies but at the end of the day it was not the bounce of the ball that beat them. It was discipline in taking a man and control of the ball running to goal.
The Next game saw the English team demoralise the Spanish beating them 5 goals to Nil. The English team of Max Routledge, Max Charlton and Jack Richardson played great attacking polo to take the win.
The first game of the second days play saw New Zealand just get up over the USA by way of a penalty shoot out. The two teams were tied up at 3 all on the final bell so they went into a high pressure penalty shoot out and it was New Zealand that had the luck on their side. Tom Hunt had a great game for New Zealand
This ball is quite light so its easier to hit in the snow but this does create other problems with accuracy as you are just not sure where the ball will go once it leaves the head of your mallet.
The French were eventual winners over Canada by only one goal and then in the upset of the tournament so far we saw the Brazilians get up over the top seeded South Africans again scoring the winning goal in the final 20 seconds.
So we have had some really exciting close games to open this tournament and it doesnt look like getting any easier especially for the Australians who are up against England next. This is a very difficult job for our Aussie boys but if they can stay disciplined on their man and stay hungry who knows what will happen
From The Fortune Heights Snow Polo World Cup 2014 this is Adam Buchert.