Bangkok--23 Jan--JWA
The final of the 12th annual BMW-B.Grimm Thai Polo Open took place on Saturday afternoon 17
January and culminated in an exciting victory for the home side, Thai Polo, who downed Fast Fish
by eight goals to five in front of an appreciative crowd at the Thai Polo & Equestrian Club in
Pattaya.
Thai Polo, led by patron Harald Link, featured Agustin Garcia Grossi (7 goals) and Pedro
Fernandez Llorante (5 goals) alongside Caroline Link, went through the tournament undefeated.
The Thai Polo Open has become one of the most sought-after events in the region and is a 10 to
12-goal competition with the day of the final featuring a host of sponsors promoting their products
and showing their support under a range of marquees.
This year, the Thai Polo Open commenced on 8 January with four teams, Thai Polo, BMW, Fast
Fish, and The 300, looking to make it through to the final nine days later.
BMW were represented by Nicolas Pieroni (4 goals), Pierre Jauretche (3 goals) and Adrien Le
Gallo (3 goals) alongside patrons Claude Haberer and Edward Batchelor.
Fast Fish had Pablo Jauretche (7 goals), Tommy Martinez (3 goals), and Damian Marco (2 goals)
with patron Windson Rao, while The 300 featured Gines Bargallo (6 goals), Shaik Reismann (3
goals), Prince Ameer (2 goals) and its patron Dato Mohamed Moiz (1 goal).
The first rounds took place on Thursday 8 January and saw The 300 narrowly defeat BMW by five
goals to 4.5 while Thai Polo edged Fast Fish five goals to four.
The second round was held on Sunday 11 January with Thai Polo downing The 300 by 12 goals to
eight and Fast Fish winning by six goals to four over BMW.
The following Wednesday saw the last of the round robin games take place, with Thai Polo
beating BMW by seven goals to 5.5 and thereby go through to the final. In the second match, Fast
Fish overwhelmed The 300 by eight goals to 4.5 to set up a meeting with Thai Polo.
The 300 and BMW contested the third and fourth places, and they staged an exciting and closefoughtcontest which saw The 300 win by a single goal, eight to seven.
Prior to the finals taking place, an exciting showjumping competition worth 100,000 baht in prize
money was held, featuring some of the most talented show jumpers of all ages in Thailand.
Helena Gabrielson took out first place ahead of Areenatha Chavatanont with Montakant
Nuanmanee in third place.
There were also some novelty events with children on horseback as well as a fashion show and a
children’s polo match.
The Thai Polo Open is kindly sponsored by BMW and B. Grimm, and helps to raise funds for
HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s Chitralada Vocational School.
There was the traditional stomping of the divots on the playing field at the conclusion of the main
event, after which Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana was on hand to present the prizes to the
various competitors, and also gave a bouquet of flowers to winning patron Harald Link in honour
of his 60th birthday.
The entertaining day concluded with a fireworks display and then a cocktail party.
Prior to the party getting underway, the inaugural Southeast Asian Polo Awards took place, with
the winners of the three competitions held during 2014 by the Royal Malaysian Polo Association
(RMPA) being honoured.
The International Award was won by Thai Polo, the National League Award went to the
Windhorse team, while the Merdeka League Award was bestowed on the La Sarita team.