► London Triumphs at the Arena Nationals

The polo club took five teams to compete at the Akuma Arena National Championships in February.  Held at The Hand Equestrian Centre near Bristol, the tournament is officially the largest Arena tournament in the world!!

Four days of polo followed with the beginners cruising to the Final partly due to their lucky white shirts!!  Not wanting to break their losing streak, they donned the coca cola stained shirts to play the final against Imperial who put up a tough fight, but London came out the victors – well done Edouard, Rose & Holly!!

               Holly, Edouard & Rose

Our other beginner team also did really well, but came up against some tough teams but ended up a very credible 4^th place – well done to Sophie, Kia, Faz & Daoud.  Another well done to Faz who was seconded last minute by the Regents College beginner team who were one short, but it was worth the rush because they also won their division!

London sent three strong novice teams – unfortunately, two of the teams were draw against each other so the inevitable happened and London 3 knocked out London 2 in the second round –but all was not lost, London 3 flew into the final and won!! Great news for Oli, Alex and Luca and commiserations to Lucie, Gonk & Barney who because London had knocked them out, could only manage 6^th place, despite only losing once.

Lucie, Oli, Barney, Gonk & Alex

Gonk

London 1 came up against some very able teams, and were against Loughborough in the semi-finals.  It what many people deemed one of the best chukkas of the tournament, Loughborough were just too strong for London, and they ended up wining the tournament – well done Loughborough & well done our London team of Flea, Raf & John.

Flea

While we may have played hard, we also partied hard!!  The players party organised by Bristol University was on the Saturday night.  With a circus theme this year, London armed with face paint galore burst onto the party scene & had a great time on the bucking bronco and had all sorts of inflatable related fun!!

Well done to everyone who came – we played well & won with dignity and grace!!

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London Triumphs at the Arena Nationals Posts