Both the 18- and 10-goal Open du Soleil finals were held at Saint Tropez Polo Club on Sunday. A total of nine teams partook in the competition. The highest handicapped title went to Los Nocheros, while 10-goal glory was enjoyed by defending champions Battistoni. This is the fifth consecutive season that the club on the French Riviera hosts 18-goal tournaments.Â
First up, Los Nocheros took on Hadoro VAS in the 18-goal final. The teams had faced each other in the group stages, and Los Nocheros had run out the winners. AgustÃn GarcÃa Grossi got off to a savage start, scoring five consecutive goals for Hadoro VAS in the first two chukkas of the final, giving his team a 5-1 advantage. But Los Nocheros slowly found their rhythm, took control of the situation. ValentÃn Novillo Astrada gave a solid performance in defence, allowing Nico Pieres to run full speed ahead in attack. In the end, Basti Schneberger’s foursome managed to tip the balance in their favour, and ultimately take the title.Â
Next, the 10-goal final saw defending champions Battistoni take on Dark Ice, recent finalists of the Cote d’Azur Cup two weeks prior. Dark Ice received 1.5 goals on handicap, which allowed them to stay in the game at all times—in fact, they even managed to be ahead on the scoreboard in the final chukka. But Battistoni pushed hard, taking advantage of the fact that they had three professionals on their team, and they eventually secured the victory.Â
As is usual on finals day at Saint Tropez Polo Club, sporting action was accompanied by a fabulous Sunday Polo event.Â
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THE OPEN DU SOLEIL FINALS WERE STREAMED LIVE VIA POLOLINE TV HD.
FINAL – OPEN DU SOLEIL (18 GOALS): LOS NOCHEROS 11-8 HADORO VAS
Los Nocheros: Basti Schneberger 1, Marcos Harriott 3 (1 goal), Nicolás Pieres 9 (8), Valentin Novillo Astrada 5 (2). Total: 18.
Haboro VAS Polo Team: Gualterio Giori 1, Tete Fanelli 4, AgustÃn GarcÃa Grossi 7 (7 goals), Eduardo Menéndez 6 (1). Total: 18.
Score Los Nocheros: 1-4, 3-5, 5-5, 9-7, 11-8.
Umpires: Peter Wright & Ben Turner.
BPP: Open Quini, played by Nico Pieres.
OPEN DU SOLEIL (18): Fixture & Teams
FINAL – OPEN DU SOLEIL (10 GOALS): BATTISTONI 8-6.5 DARK ICE
Battistoni: Alessandro Barnaba -1, Pierre Jauretche 3 (2 goals), Nacho Garrahan 3 (3), Juan Jauretche 5 (3). Total: 10.
Dark Ice: Helen Goddard-Watts -1 (1 goal), Gonzalo Quesada 0T, Santiago Zubiaurre 5 (3), Juan Martin GarcÃa Laborde 4 (1). Total: 8.
Score Battistoni: (0-1.5) 2-1.5, 5-3.5, 6-6.5, 8-6.5.Â
Umpires: Esteban Ferrari & Alex Roldan.
BPP: Esquina, played by Santiago Zubiaurre.
OPEN DU SOLEIL (10): Fixture & Teams
Action at Saint Tropez Polo Club will resume on Thursday with the 10-goal Gold Cup.
IMAGES:
REWATCH LOS NOCHEROS VS HADORO VAS POLO TEAM (POLOLINE TV)
REWATCH BATTISTONI VS DARK ICE (POLOLINE TV)