Single spot undecided in the All-Star Challenge finale

Colorado has qualified for the finals of the World Polo League’s first tournament The All-Star Challenge. They remain undefeated in both of their league fixtures while Grand Champions are still in the running after winning its first game on Wednesday’s bracket fixtures




Match Description: Grand Champions v/s Flexjet


In the 1st game of the All Stars Challenge, Grand Champions (Grant Ganzi, 3, Alfredo Bigatti, 8, Juancito Bollini, 4, Adolfo Cambiaso, 10) defeated Flexjet (Melissa Ganzi, 0, Pablo Spinacci, 6, Diego Cavanagh, 9, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, 8) in a close 14-12 victory contested at Jan Pamela Field.

Grand Champions were successful in making a sound comeback after the setting of their WPL campaign with a loss against Colorado in the tournament opening game last week.
Despite having a 3 point lead due to handicap disparity, Flexjet wasn’t able to capitalize on it. Grand Champions successfully chipped off the lead in the later part of the second chukker. With 2:44 left in the chukker, Grand Champions tied the scores at 5-5.

Both the teams gained an unstable lead 7 combined times before Bollini scored on with a neck shot to give his team a 9-8 lead. But the lead again proved to be unstable, as Flexjet’s Novillo Astrada put his team back in the running by equalizing the score at 11 each at the end of the sixth chukker.

Sixth Chukker saw aggressive gameplay by the Grand champions to solidify the victory for their side. Grant Ganzi opened a trail of three goals in the 6th chukker when he scored a quick goal for a 12-11 lead. Cambiaso and Ganzi scored successive goals for a 14-11 lead in the concluding minutes of the game. Shockingly, Diego Cavanagh was only able to convert a single goal in the entirety of the game that too in the additional 30 seconds.

"It's good to get a win in this tough bracket," Ganzi commented. "It feels good playing well as a team because honestly, I felt the last game we weren't there. The biggest thing was getting the horses ready."

Juancito Bollini scored a game-high six goals for Grand Champions and was awarded the MVP of the game. Grant Ganzi, Adolfo Cambiaso and Alfredo Bigatti had stellar performance, scoring 4,3 and 1 goals each.

Juancito Bollini credited his team’s strategy of constantly rotating players to be the decisive factor in their victory. "We were rotating all the time," Bollini said. "I played more like a one today. Our first game was the first time playing as a team. We got used to the style of playing and we had more communication and confidence today, and that's a big part. The horses got used to the rhythm and that helps. It's nice to score a lot of goals, I haven't done that in a while. It was a challenge playing against familiar faces."

Ganzi, being one of the youngest players in the tournament relishes the opportunity that WPL has provided him with to compete with the best in the world. "I think it's great," Ganzi said. "The teams are great and competitive. The fields are awesome. The games have been really close. This is a really good tournament to get warmed up for the rest of the season. This tournament is to have fun and get the horses ready."

"They had a few goals in the end and some amazing passes," Novillo Astrada said.
"It is amazing playing against Adolfo; he is the best player in the world.
He can do whatever he wants whenever he wants. You can't stop him."

With this spectacular victory, Grand Champions reassert their status as one of the primary contenders for the title.

Match Description: Colorado v/s Scone

In the 2nd fixture of the day, Colorado (Rob Jornayvaz, 2, Juan Martin Zubia, 7, Rodrigo Andrade, 9, Jero del Carril, 7) overcame Scone (David Paradice, 0, Guillermo Terrera, 8, Alejandro Taranco, 8, Juan Martin Nero, 10), 11-9, to continue their unbeaten streak in the WPL at 2-0 and were able to solidify their position in Sunday's final at Grand Champions with the excellent performance. Colorado, the tournament favorites, showed an offensive prowess that only a few teams would have been able to subdue. The other finalist was to be determined on Wednesday.

Colorado started off with a 2-0 lead on handicap and quickly extended it to 5-2 late in the 1st chukker. Juan Martin Zubia scored thrice in the first chukker. Scone was able to close in on the lead to two goals twice in the second half but could not get any further.

"We realize we are a very strong offensive team," Rob Jornayvaz said. "As long as we can be patient on the defense our offense is always going to be there as long as we are releasing the ball and making passes. I think the big thing for us is not making fouls in those moments when you are up, you really don't want to give it away because the momentum can switch so fast." He added: "Sometimes you are a bit more anxious being so far up than down. It's really about keeping your cool in those moments, scoring a couple more goals and keeping the

distance. So hopefully, we can keep being strong attacking." Colorado offense was balanced, with each layer firing on all cylinders. Juan Martin Zubia scored the highest four goals where Rob Jornayvaz and Jero del Carril each had two goals and Rodrigo Andrade added one goal.