BANQUE ERIC STURDZA

Europe, Polo News

Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad 2019

16. May 2019

The ‘‘Sport of the Kings and King of Sports’’ is back in Gstaad, at Saanen Airport, from August 22nd to 25th for four days dedicated to the Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad – at an altitude of 1000m the highest summer tournament in the world.

Three teams, Clinique La Prairie, Gstaad Palace and Hublot will try to overthrow the one of Banque Eric Sturdza and his Swiss captain, Cedric Schweri, unbeatable since he won his first title in 2017: ‘‘Well, I wouldn’t say that the Hublot Polo Gold Cup is my only goal of the season, but it’s one of my favourite tournaments since it’s the most important one in Switzerland and, of course, as a Swiss player, I am honoured to be a participant. I’m as ready as I can be, I mean it would be amazing to win for the third time”. He will count this year on the Brazilian Novaes brothers to win a new victory in this new edition.

Remembering the final 2018 won on a knife edge by the team Banque Eric Sturdza after an incredible ‘‘remontada’’ when Cedric Schweri and his team were led by three goals, it looks like, once again, it will not be easy for the Swiss captain even though his combativeness got the upper hand. The competition will be strong. The Swiss captains of Clinique La Prairie, Piero Dillier and Andy Bihrer, for example, have called on Lucas Labat, the Argentinian handicap 6 player, who is playing at the highest level on all continents. Julio Novillo Astrada (h7), who is said in his country that he is certainly the strongest player of this renowned family who won the prestigious Argentinean Open, will return to Gstaad for Team Hublot and American Captain Marco Maximilian Elser. As for the captain of the Gstaad Palace team, Gerardo Cosentino of Liechtenstein, he will introduce three new Argentinean players to the cosmopolitan public of Gstaad, including handicap 6 Franco Gai.

Beyond this thrilling sport – and all the more spectacular in Gstaad on a field close to the public – the Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad is a unique experience in the Swiss sports calendar that goes beyond the competition: a stunning setting of greenery, on an by alpine peaks surrounded airport that becomes a polo club for a single weekend, a rare proximity with players and horses, a VIP village and exhibitors with original luxury products to discover, a friendly atmosphere, a public dining area, a playground for children and, on Friday, a picturesque animation in the streets of Gstaad with the parade of teams. A different way to live high level polo!

www.polo-gstaad.ch

Photos: R&B Presse

The ‘‘Sport of the Kings and King of Sports’’ is back in Gstaad, at Saanen Airport, from August 22nd to 25th for four days dedicated to the Hublot Polo Gold…

Europe, Polo News

Cédric Schweri and Banque Eric Sturdza keep their title

20. August 2018

Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad – What a finale! Probably the most beautiful in twenty-three editions of the Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad. Incredibly intense to the point that the audience (2,000 spectators again) completely got caught up in game and greatly cheered from the sidelines. Although Cédric Schweri and his teammates of Banque Eric Sturdza were able to raise the trophy for the second year in a row, they truly had to fight for it.

It was more than a fight, it was a battle! Clinique La Prairie attacked very strongly to the point where one could wonder if the game was not going to be one-sided: “In the beginning of the game, we did not really play well, concedes the happy captain of Banque Eric Sturdza. The other team started the game off very strongly and it began to look bad for us. But our team is like a good Swiss clock, it takes time to adjust, but once it runs, it runs with great regularity.”

In short, in the score, this resulted in a severe 4-1 after the first chukker with two goals scored by the one who would be crowned the tournament’s top scorer, the Argentine Agustin Canale (15 goals in the end, 5 average per game). Things got better in the second period, when Banque Eric Sturdza came back to 7-5. “We then started to speed up our game”, says Schweri. Notably thanks to Marcelo Pascual, author of lightning accelerations, brilliantly organizing the game of his team and scoring the two goals that would put the two teams to a tie in the last chukker. All there was left to do for Brazilian Joao Novaes was to conclude by scoring a 30-yard penalty giving Banque Eric Sturdzatheir second title: “Two successive titles in five finals, it’s true that it’s great, but I promise you that I will come back for a third conquest! These victories are the most beautiful because they are at home!”

The final, which will be remembered as one of the greatest of the Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad was preceded by the game for the third place easily won by team Gstaad Palace defeating team Hublot, 8-4. Pedro Fernandez Llorente scored four goals for the victorious team, while in the other team only Julio Novillo Astrada managed to score … But, unlike the hardly fought final, this subsidiary final was more of a friendly game. Friendship is also the hallmark of this tournament, which has been presided for thirteen years now by Pierre Génécand who managed to turn it into a huge event, supported by renowned sponsors – including Hublot, Gstaad Palace, Clinique la Prairie, Banque Eric Sturdza and Ferrai among others – while keeping a friendly atmosphere and bringing together a nice audience.

The next year’s edition of the Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad takes place from August 15 to 18, 2019!
by R&B Presse

www.polo-gstaad.ch

Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad – What a finale! Probably the most beautiful in twenty-three editions of the Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad. Incredibly intense to the point that the…