Fiona Turney, Tournament Director for the World Cup Polo writes:
An update from the World Cup Polo Pty Ltd (WPC) on some of the tournament preparations for the XI FIP World Polo Championship 2017 to date:
50% of the teams have now qualified:
- Australia (host)
- NZ (who qualified in Thailand early Feb)
- Chile (reigning world champions)
- Argentina (who qualified in Uruguay late Jan)
Details of the remaining qualifiers are as follows:
|
FIP ZONE
|
2017 DATE
|
HOST VENUE
|
HOST COUNTRY
|
TEAMS
|
|
ZONE A
|
22nd – 30th April
|
Port Mayaca Polo Club & IPC, Wellington
|
USA
|
USA, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Guatemala (tbc)
|
|
ZONE C
|
29th April – 7th May
|
Chantilly Polo Club
|
France
|
England, France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Germany (tbc) or Netherlands (tbc)
*2 x team will qualify from Zone C
|
|
ZONE E
|
29th – 6th July
|
Kanoon Chogan, Qasr Firoozeh & the Army Polo Club, Tehran
|
Iran
|
South Africa, Pakistan, India, Iran
|
- Horse procurement is still our number one focus. The Working Group led by Anto White, Jim Gilmore and Pat MaGinley have recently shortlisted their team of Horse stewards. The Horse Stewards will be officially announced shortly. Over the course of the next 4 weeks or so WPC will be contacting those who have indicated an interest in lending horses for the event. The initial grading for the horses will start in August in QLD.
- Horse Lender Tournaments. The intention is to host a number of horse lenders tournaments in September in the Scone/ Hawkesbury area. Interest has already been received from those teams who have qualified wishing to come to Australia ahead of the WPC to practice. This will bring opportunities for all the polo community, with teams requiring horses, accommodation and other services in the run up to the WPC.
- Horse Accommodation. Thanks to the generosity of the Hawkesbury Basin Polo community the horses will be accommodated in 8 x modules’ making up the World Cup Zone. The following have kindly offered their support so far:
- Arunga Polo Club
- Windsor Polo Club
- Troika Polo Club
- The Pines
- and, Sydney Polo Club.
- Horse ID / Biosecurity measures are due to be implemented top down via the APF and a phone app which is a fantastic development for the polo community. Those horses taking part in the WPC will be the focus of the initiative initially, followed by the rest of the polo community in due course.
- A partnership has been agreed between The University of Sydney Veterinary Hospital (USVH) and WPC which will fulfil the majority of the veterinary remit including a team of vet assistants which will be allocated to each pool of horses. The APF Welfare Committee will play an important role in overseeing the welfare of all animals during the WPC. Fiona would be interested in hearing from vets, farriers and others who might be interested in being involved in the event.
- Prydes will be our official feed supplier for the WPC which is another exciting development
- Grooms will be accommodated at the Merroo Christian Centre in nearby Kurrajong. Additional to those grooms accompanying their owner’s horses to the WPC, Fiona is interested in hearing from any additional grooms who might like to be involved.
Fiona and the WPC would love to hear from as many of you as possible with any enquires / questions you might have. fionaturney@sydneypolo.com / 0477775592
WPC will be at Windsor this coming Sunday and we look forward to speaking to as many of you as possible.
Via Suzie and Amanda, WPC will be disseminating information regularly via the APF/ NSWPA websites. Watch this space!
Tickets on sale via www.wpcsydney.com
Corporate hospitality / sponsorship enquires to phoebeloneragan@sydneypolo.com
