Barbados Successfully Hosts Segway Polo Tournament
The current World Champions of Segway Polo, Team Barbados, successfully hosted Segway Polo in Paradise last week at the UWI Hockey Turf. The second edition of the competition attracted players from the US, UK, Spain, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. Local and foreign players were ranked and drafted into 9 teams of equal strength, which were named after popular Barbadian geographical locations.
Each team played 8 round-robin matches of 2 chukkas each (8 minutes per chukka), before being placed in three groups based on the final round-robin standings, to determine the final standings through more round-robin play.
Action got underway on April 28th. In the tournament opener, Lutz Dombdera of Germany lead Batts Rock to a 2-1 victory over North Point, while Morgan Lewis followed suit, edging Sandy Lane 1-0. Harrison’s Cave was the talk of day one however, racking up two convincing wins under the captaincy of local sharpshooter Daniel Hatch.
As the tournament progressed, Harrison’s Cave continued their dominance. The combination of Hatch, Nathan Angell (UK), Sonja Funke (Germany), Vijay Alrulraj (UK) and Nicholas Eastmond (Barbados) was clinical, registering the biggest wins of the tournament; 5-2 against Morgan Lewis and 4-0 against Bottom Bay. It was no surprise at the end of the round-robin that they were number 1 in the standings with 7 wins and 1 draw. Despite a slow start in their, Bottom Bay finished 6 points behind Harrison’s Cave in 2nd, while Batts Rock stole the final spot in the top play-off group, with just a 1 point cushion ahead of Farley Hill.
On the final day of play, Sandy Lane topped group C to finish 7th and Farley Hill secured 4th place after the group B play-off. Group A’s playoff for the top 3 positions saw Batts Rock draw both matches against Harrison’s Cave and Bottom Bay, which virtually set up a final between Harrison’s Cave and Bottom Bay. Most expected this to go one way, after Harrison’s Cave thrashed Bottom Bay 4-0 in the previous round.
Nevin Roach opened the scoring for Bottom Bay after a fantastic team build up, slotting the ball past eventual Goal Keeper of the tournament, Funke. Hatch equalised shortly after with a scorcher just inside the last post, beating Megan Scott (UK). This time around however, the combination of Roach, Daniel Ouro (Spain), Che Corbin (Barbados), Paul Davies (UK) and Scott proved to be the better. After heated exchanges on attack and stalwart defending by both teams, Roach eventually got the breakthrough his team needed. He completed a brace to give his team a 2-1 lead. Harrison’s Cave had no response and Bottom Bay was crowned Champions at the final blast of the whistle.
Head of the local organizing committee, Ralf Luther, was quite pleased with the club’s efforts in hosting and is confident that with additional support, Segway Polo can contribute more to the island’s tourism sector. “Every time we host this competition, we attract a good number of visitors, and we’ve already got Nathan Angell and Megan Scott planning on returning to get married here in 2018 for the next edition.”
The Segway Polo Club of Barbados would like to thank the BTMI, Courtesy Rent-A-Car, Academy of Sport Cave Hill, What’SUP Paddle Boarding, Brand Fea, Totally Barbados, Earthworks Pottery, Pirate’s Cove, Cool Runnings Catamaran Cruises and Rival Enterprises for their support.
SPECIAL AWARDS
Most Goals – Daniel Hatch (Barbados, Harrison’s Cave)
MVP – Nathan Angell (UK, Harrison’s Cave)
Best Goalkeeper – Sonja Funke (Germany, Harrison’s Cave)
FINAL OVERALL STANDINGS
1st – Bottom Bay: Daniel Ouro (Spain), Megan Scott (UK), Paul Davies (UK), Nevin Roach (T&T), Che Corbin (Barbados)
2nd – Batts Rock: Lutz Dombdera (Germany), Steve Farnell (UK), Philip Evelyn (Barbados), David Eastmond (Barbados)
3rd - Harrison’s Cave: Sonja Funke (Germany), Nathan Angell (UK), Vijay Arulraj (UK), Nicholas Eastmond (Barbados), Daniel Hatch (Barbados)
4th – Farley Hill: Adrian Cardona (Spain), Beat Meir (Switzerland), Steve Ozdemir (US), Matthew Lewis (Barbados), Dwayne Clarke (Barbados)
5th – Soup Bowl: Dirk Fleischer (Germany), Jonas Bingestam (Sweden), Roberto Montero (Spain), George Clarke (US), Darnley Rayside (Barbados)
6th – Morgan Lewis: Dieter Schlemenat (Germany), April Weller (UK), Alejandro Taberno (Spain), Gregory Pitcher (Spain), Brett deGale (Barbados)
7th – Sandy Lane: Dawn Harkness (US), Mark Weller (UK), Jim Wilcox (US), Ryan Rodriguez (Barbados), Brett Callaghan (Barbados)
8th – North Point: Sherry Ozdemir (US), Thorsten Müller-Schmetz (Germany), Simon Angell (UK), Maurizio Fernandez (Spain), Peter Gilkes (Barbados)
9th – Flower Forest: Drew Bickell (UK), Olaf Funke (Germany), Michael OConnor (US), Emma Thompson (UK), Franchero Ellis (Barbados)
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