Team La Dolfina Sancor Seguros remains undefeated this year as well. With the victory over Ellerstina Johor, La Dolfina continued its winning streak at the 126th HSBC Argentine Open and staying at the top of the podium for seven consecutive years.
After 32 undefeated matches, La Dolfina Sancor Seguros took the lead in Saturday’s 126th Argentine Open final with a clear 16-12 triumph against Ellerstina, winning the world’s most important polo tournament for the seventh year running, with ten teams with team handicaps between 28 and 40 goals and the most important players from Argentina, South Africa and Uruguay.
In a highly competitive match, Team La Dolfina, who already won the Hurlingham Open, defeated Ellerstina Johor (winner of the Tortugas Open).
The outstanding performances of Adolfo Cambiaso, who scored 6 goals, and Pablo Mac Donough, who scored another 5, earned La Dolfina the trophy, although their team-mate Juan M. Nero had to leave his place to Rodrigo Ribeiro de Andrade after a fall in the seventh Chukker.
Ellerstina could do little to withstand the attacks of La Dolfina. Facundo Pieres, scorer of 8 goals in the final, also failed to turn three penalties into goals.
In this way, La Dolfina’s Cañuelas won their 13th title in 19 appearances at the Palermo Open since the team’s inception in 2000. For Ellerstina, it was the12th final in 15 years. Since 2005, the team only missed the final in 2006, 2013 and 2018 and won the Argentine Open three times in total.
The balance is as follows when looking at the individual players: the four La Dolfina players have won a total of 44 Argentine Open titles to date – 16 Cambiaso, 10 Mac Donough and Nero, 8 Stirling. On Ellerstina’s side, Gonzalo and Facundo Pieres each won three titles, while his brother Nicolas won one. “Polito” Pieres is the only one of the eight finalists who has not yet made it onto the trophy.
After a speech by Eduardo Novillo Astrada, President of the AAP, the award ceremony began. Carlos Menéndez Behety, Rafael Cúneo Libarona, Federico Virasoro, Juan Lastra, Gonzalo Delger, and Guillermo Mones Ruiz, Global Markets Director at HSBC, as well as Martín Pérez Ibañez and Bob Jornayvaz, presented the awards.
After Maxi Funes, Relations Manager of AAP was awarded for 25 years of AAP work, Pablo Mac Donough received the Gonzalo Heguy Trophy from Jesús Heguy as the best player of the final. The Javier Novillo Astrada Trophy was presented to the tournament’s record scorer, Adolfo Cambiaso, who scored a total of 39 goals at the 126th Palermo Open.
In the final of the 3rd Abierto Argentino de Polo Femenino Team, Overo Z7 UAE defeated their opponent La Dolfina Brava and won the Women’s Open presented by La Roche Posay. Team Overo Z7 UAE with Clara Cassino (7), Millie Hine (4), Hazel Jackson-Gaona (10) and Lía Salvo (9) defeated the defending champions La Dolfina Brava 10-5 and won the coveted title for the first time since the founding of Abierto Femenino in 2017. Led by Lía Salvo, who became the tournament’s best player and scorer for the third year running, El Overo Z7 UAE scored the victory they had hoped for.