Ladies Polo Cup: Augustinus Bader defends their title

The first title awarded in the 2023 Barrière Deauville Polo Cup: The Ladies Polo Cup — Diane Barrière. It was a particularly challenging tournament this year with five teams, each with at least one player participating in the flagship women’s polo tournament: the Argentine Open. It is with the two-time champion of this Open, Lía Salvo, that Augustinus Bader signs a double in Deauville after their premier victory last year. But how tough it was!

It is the third Deauville title for Lía Salvo, who won it for the first time in 2018. To reach the final, she had to defeat two of her teammates from her Argentinian team, El Overo: Milly Hine in the quarterfinals and Clarita Casino yesterday. For this afternoon’s sublime final, Lía had to contest the young Milagros Sanchez (22 years old), finalist last year of this same Argentine Open with La Irenita.

With players of this caliber, one could only expect a spectacular final, one that marks the continuous progress of women’s polo: the spectators were not disappointed! After a tense start to the match, it took until the middle of the second half to see Anais Rezkallah open the scoring. Then, in the third chukker, the players went shot for shot: the intensity of the match amplified! The American captain Megan Manubay gave Augustinus Bader a 2-3 lead late in the third chukker. After Paloma Lauro’s leveling of the score, we were heading towards an overtime period when, 17 seconds from the final bell, Lía Salvo, true to form, delivered the fatal blow.

“It was a very tough final, but I like this kind of match because it shows the level of the women’s here in Deauville is getting better every year. You could see it today with a very close and tough final where no one gave in. Today was a great show of teamwork: everyone scored their goal, Anais was voted best player in the final, and she helped me a lot. The other team was amazing, they were the same: four young players who played really, really well and hung on until the end. I knew it was going to be tough,” said Salvo.        

For the Argentine champion, winning in Deauville is always close to her heart. :“I love coming here, it is my favorite destination. My father won the Coupe d’Or in 1974. For me, playing in Deauville is a tradition and it reminds me of him. I always have a lot of people I love here in Deauville.”            

After a tournament in England, Lía Salvo will return to France to play two tournaments in Chantilly, notably the French Open, with the same Agustinus Baderteam before flying to her country and preparing for the biggest date of the year—the Argentine Open with a brand-new team.

The Barrière Deauville Polo cup continues with the qualifying matches of the Coupe d‘Or Lucien & Marta Barrière (final on the 27th). Already three games are on the books, and what games they were, full of intensity and suspense. The first to games were decided in extra chukker on golden goals from Bautista Bayugar (8-goaler, Los Dragones Rouge) and Juan-Gris Zavaleta (7-goaler, Barrière), while yesterday’s match saw the “firework” signed Guillermo Terrera (8-goaler Eternal J) who scored 6 of his team‘s 7 goals. All players who also shine in their flagship tournament… the Argentine Open! Of course…

It is certainly the best the sport has to offer at the Barrière Deauville Polo Cup 2023… as it has been for Coupe d’Or’s 73-year history.

Finale Ladies Polo Cup – Diane Barrière

Augustinus Bader (LUX): Paloma Lauro (2, 1 goal), Aurelie Molitor (1, 1 goal), Anais Rezkallah (2, 1 goal) et Lía Salvo (9, 1 goal)

Bar du Soleil (USA) : Megan Manubay (0, 2 goals), Leah Kawamoto (2), Polina Nazarova (4), Milagros Sanchez (7, 1 goal)

MVP: Anais Rezkallah

Progression Augustinus Bader: 0-0 / 0-1 / 2-3 / 4-3