First Ladies Polo Tournament in the United Arab Emirates

Premiere: From December 10th to 13th, 2013, the first UAE Ladies Polo Tournament will take place at the Desert Palm Polo Club in Dubai. Under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Maitha Bint Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, daughter of the Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, four teams are going to compete against each other.
The enthusiastic polo player HH Sheikha Maitha will be playing, too, and is going to lead team UAE. HH Sheikha Maitha: “The Ralph Lauren International Ladies Polo Tournament represents a significant achievement for both the UAE and for women across the region. Polo has long been associated as being a tough game, however, the first ever ladies polo tournament allows women to cement their footprints in this sport. It gives me great honour to participate in this pioneering event and to blaze a path for women in the world of polo.”
Alongside team UAE there will be one team from Asia and two teams from Europe. Team Asia will be captained by Ploy Bhinsaeng, Thailand’s premier female polo player and Lady Polo Asia Ambassador. Captain of Team Europe 1 will be Princess Anna Oettingen-Wallerstein, founder of the Girls Only tournament in Wallerstein and Team Europe 2 will be captained by the Czech Katerina Zeka Dombiova. US’s best ranking female polo player, Sunny Hale will be playing alongside Ploy for Team Asia with France’s Christine Thome playing for Team Europe 1.
Anna Oettingen-Wallerstein: “As I was invited to bring at team to this unique event I immediately accepted. I love playing at Ali Albwardy’s beautiful Desert Palm and wouldn’t miss this historic moment to join forces promoting ladies polo with HH Sheikha Maitha. To us, it is also the confirmation that ladies’ polo is gaining in popularity worldwide and it facilitates international polo friendships across the globe. Dubai will be a fantastic new platform to grow the sport even more.”
David Lauren, Executive Vice President of Advertising, Marketing and Corporate Communications at Ralph Lauren: “We are incredibly thankful for the participation of Her Highness Sheikha Maitha and Dubai Cares in supporting this prestigious event. This partnership reinforces the brand’s leadership in major sporting events and our dedication to supporting the game of polo.”
Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Cares: “We are grateful to Her Highness Sheikha Maitha for her philanthropic efforts and selecting Dubai Cares to be part of this unique event. Sheikha Maitha has been an ambassador of Dubai Cares ever since its launch and took part in various activities such as travelling to one of our programs in Sudan. We are also pleased to work with Ralph Lauren on this prestigious event. Dubai Cares boasts a wide range of innovative partnerships that aim to alleviate the grip of poverty that spans generations. If not properly addressed, poverty can be an endless cycle. Through quality primary education, we work to break this cycle and fulfil every child’s right to an education.”
The polo players will be outfitted in Ralph Lauren designed polo mesh shirts in a color palette of bright orange, pink, lime green and white. The limited-edition shirts for both men and women will be available exclusively in Ralph Lauren stores in Dubai and Abu-Dhabi beginning December 9th. Twenty percent of all proceeds made from sales of these limited-edition tournament mesh polo shirts will benefit Dubai Cares, a UAE-based philanthropic organization that aims to improve children’s access to quality primary education in developing countries.
The event is being organised by Ralph Lauren Corporation in conjunction with Dubai Cares.