Two Teams for Segway Polo World Championship
When the 2017 WOZ Challenge Cup – Segway Polo World Championship gets underway in Germany later this year, two Barbadian teams will proudly fly the Barbados flag for the first time since 2011.
This is the news coming out of the Segway Polo Club of Barbados, which will see Team Barbados defending their title with the likes of Ralf Luther, Brett Callaghan and David Eastmond, who are all members of the 2015 WOZ Cup winning team.
The team will play under the captaincy of Nevin Roach for a second consecutive Cup as the squad welcomes back two-time World Champions Daniel Hatch and Ryan Rodriguez.
Captaining the second team will be Franchero Ellis, who is a seasoned player, having played for Team Barbados in 2015. He will be joined by debutants Matthew Lewis, Nicholas Eastmond and Hollist Webb, along with experienced guest players Lutz Dombdera and Michael OConnor to play as the Rum Runners.
According to Roach, preparations for the tournament have been coming along nicely. “This year, Hatch and I added video sessions among other tools to the training regime. We know that teams will be coming out extra hard for us so we need to be better than we were in 2015.”
Roach, who is also the coach, continued by saying that “we have also been doing a lot of drills, which focus on individual skill, as well as activities to build team chemistry.” The player-coach duo hopes that perfecting the basics of gameplay and some practice matches will see Barbados hoisting the Cup again.
The teams will fly to Hemer, Germany for the tournament, which takes place from July 26-30, 2017. The competition will host 18 teams from countries such as the US, UK, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
Team Barbados defeated the Balve Mammuts of Germany 1-0 in the 2015 final and expects strong competition from them again, as well as the Stockholm Vikings (Sweden) the Saints (Sweden), Cornwall (UK) and the Turtles (Germany).
The Segway Polo Club of Barbados would like to thank the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., the Academy of Sport at UWI Cave Hill and Courtesy Rent A Car for their support.
Past Results at World Championships
2015 – Team Barbados (Champions)
2013 – Team Barbados (Runners-up)
2011 – Barbados Flyin’ Fish (Runners-up)
2011 – Barbados Rum Runners (7th)
2010 – Barbados Flyin’ Fish (Champions)
2010 – Barbados Rum Runners (4th)
2009 – Barbados Flyin’ Fish (Champions)
Follow: www.facebook.com/segwaypolobarbados
