In the final of the most important polo tournament in the world, the 123rd Argentine Open, La Dolfina once again met their long-time rival Ellerstina in an exciting encounter. The sun accompanied the eagerly-awaited polo match, which took place before a full audience of polistas. Everybody was full of expectation what would happen after La Dolfina won this year’s title of the Tortugas Open and Ellerstina was successful at the 2016 Hurlingham Open.
In the beginning Ellerstina, including the Pieres brothers Nicolás (9), Gonzalo (10) and Facundo (10) as well as their cousin Pablo Pieres (10), took the lead and the first chukka ended by 2-1. In the second chukka, La Dolfina, consisting of the 10-goalers Adolfo Cambiaso, David Stirling, Pablo Mac Donough and Juan Martín Nero, tied the match, 3-3. In the following chukkas both teams went head-to-head. It was not until the seventh chukka that La Dolfina was clearly pulling ahead and achieved a 3-goal margin. In the final chukka, Ellerstina managed to score one more time, but La Dolfina added two more goals to its scoring list and thus won the match by 16-12.
David Stirling was presented with the Gonzalo Heguy Most Valuable Player Award and his horse Zippi gained the Lady Susan Townley Best Playing Pony Award. The Javier Novillo Astrada Award for the top scorer of the tournament went to Adolfo Cambiaso, who scored 40 goals during this year’s Argentine Open.
About the Argentine Open
The Argentine Polo Open is the most important polo tournament at club level and the third and final part of the Argentine Triple Crown. The Triple Crown is a series of the most important tournaments worldwide and consists of the Tortugas Open, Hurlingham Open and Argentine Open.
Since 1893 it has been held at the “Campo Argentino de Polo of Palermo” in Buenos Aires. The world famous stadium is also called “Cathedral of Polo”. Between 1893 and 1923 the Argentine Open was known as “River Plate Polo Championship”. As well as the other two main polo events, the Tortugas Open and the Hurlingham Open, the handicap of the teams must be between 28 and 40 goals. The tournament is organized by the Asociación Argentina de Polo (AAP) and attracts thousands of spectators each year to the stadium in Palermo, Buenos Aires.
