Cartier Queen’s Cup 2024 Day 1

Dubai 13 – 6 Great Oaks

King Power 10 –  9 Sujan Indian Tigers

Park Place 9 –  8 Marques de Riscal

The Cartier Queen’s Cup 2024 kicked off with three strong games. First up was Rashid Albwardy’s Dubai against Dillon Bacon’s La Dolfina Great Oaks. The latter had won the Prince of Wales Trophy at the Berkshire last weekend but Dubai were too tough a challenge in this match.  Some great teamwork delivered an impressive 13-6 victory and certainly highlighted Dubai as a team to be feared in this contest. However as Lolo Castagnola said to Polocam TV post-match, there is a long way to go and “you have to take every game like a final.”

Next up was a really close affair between King Power and Sujan Indian Tigers. Things remained tight until the final minutes of the final chukka. Nico Pieres fired through a goal to give Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha’s team the edge. Sujan’s Juan Martin Zubia continued to battle but struggled to get through a King Power defence in time to push this match into extra time.

The final of the match of the day saw Park Place and Marques de Riscal go head to Guards Polo Club. With light rain in attendance too, this was another tight and tense match. Plenty of penalties and a couple of yellow cards too, including Marques de Riscal’s  Santiago Cernades taking a two-minute visit to the sin bin. Park Place managed one goal while their opponents were down to three men but Marques de Riscal kept fighting. Like the previous game, this was a battle to the final whistle, with victory going to Andrey Borodin’s Park Place. A great start to this year’s Cartier Queen’s Cup and with 19 top tier teams in the mix we are in for a treat across the next three weeks.

Images copyright Pablo Ramirez