Dubai

This weekend’s Beach Polo Cup Dubai 2015 will have a local flavour with at least three promising UAE players making it into the teams.

Saud Khoury will join Maxi Malacalza and Stuart Wrigley in Team Autism Rocks, while brothers Tariq and Rashid Al Bwardy will turn up for Team Cadillac and VistaJet Bombadier respectively at the competition on April 10-11.

Now in its eleventh year, the annual Beach Polo Cup Dubai was founded in 2004 by Mamemo Productions and has since then grown to 32 cities globally to become one of the most popular sporting events in the UAE.

The two-day event was formally announced on Wednesday Sam Katiela, Managing and Creative Director, Mamemo Productions in the presence of Nasser Al Rahma, Director of Events, Dubai Sports Council; Felix Weller, Director, Sales and Marketing, Cadillac Middle East, Dr Pierro Dillier, European Director, Federation Internationale Polo (FIP) and Gaby Katiela, Tournament Director, Beach Polo Cup.

“Three of the four teams each have a local Emirati player and this shows our commitment to the growth of this tournament,” assured Gaby Katiela.

“We are privileged to live in a country that affords us the opportunity to grow, succeed and nurture talent, and the inclusion of these three players will be a true testament of how good they really are,” she added.

Featuring in Team Cadillac will be Tariq Al Bwardy along with Matias Machado, an Argentinian four-goaler and Desert Palm’s resident instructor and the UK’s Sam Instone, who is heavily involved with The London Polo Club and Academy.

In the Vista and Bombadier team, younger brother Rashid will be joined by zero handicapper Jan Bladen of Switzerland and five-goal handicapper Martin Valent from Argentina. Team Lindt, the fourth team in the competition, will comprise of Lucas Labat of Argentina along with Pierro Dillier of Switzerland and Uwe Zimmermann of Germany.

“The development of Dubai and polo has been going on hand-in-hand for the past few years now. In one year the Dubai Sports Council has more than 400 events involving 90 different sports, most of which are compressed in six months and this beach polo tournament has definitely come to occupy the highest level in our portfolio,” Al Rahma said.

The format of competition is simple with the winners of Friday’s two matches advancing to the final to be held the following day.