Last week a new year for the World Polo Tour (WTP) started with the Valartis Bank Snow Polo World Cup in Kitzbühel and the beginning of the HH President of the UAE Polo Cup in Abu Dhabi. In 2014 the WPT will have several developments: 13 additional tournaments will be part of the WPT and there will also be more points to earn.
After a meeting by the WPT commission it was decided that the most important tournament of the year should be awarded more points. From this year on, all semi finalists of the Argentine Open will receive 70 points and all semi finalists of the Hurlingham Open will be awarded 50 points. 20 points will be given to those who reach the quarter finals of Argentine tournament The Camara de Diputados. Another tournament that has raised the points is the Dubai Gold Cup, where winners will get 50 points.
There will also be additional tournaments to earn points for the WPT: The Copa Municipalidad de Pilar enters the WPT Cup category, and the winners get 70 points. Venezuela also becomes part of the WPT with the tournament called Agualinda Victor Jose Vargas Santaella. France includes the Open de Paris, and in the UK the Harrison Cup and Holden White, the Indian Empire Shield and Archie David all enter.
The Middle East continues its expansion in the rankings, with the ingress of the HH President of UAE Polo Cup in Abu Dhabi and the same in Thailand with the Thai Open. In Argentina, four clubs get in line of the WPT with one tournament each: Copa de Diamante (La Dolfina), Copa El Remanso (El Remanso), Copa America (Alegria-Polo One) y Copa Julio Novillo Astrada (La Aguada PC). As if that wasn’t enough, a new destination enters the ranking – Mexico. The WPT commission evaluated the fixture in Costa Cayeres next April and will include it as from January 2015 to turn it into the first event in the ranking for the Aztec nation.
The WPT is the international ranking of the best polo players worldwide according to their performance during the course of the year in the main tournaments around the world. Depending on the level of difficulty the players can earn varying points for participating as well as reaching the finals of the tournaments. At the end of each year the points are being added up and result in the ranking of the best polo players.
In 2013 Adolfo Cambiaso (+10) reached the top of the ranking list with 766 points, Facundo Pieres (+10) got 759 points and was placed second. During the course of the year Facundo Piers had been placed first at the WPT ranking for long periods, but Cambiaso became number one after winning the Tortugas Open, the Hurlingham Open and the Argentine Open.
For more information: www.worldpolotour.com
