Aug 15, 2017 2:38 PM
The XI FIP World Polo Championship is set to take place October 17-30, 2017, at the Sydney Polo Club in Richmond, New South Wales, Australia. The Sydney Polo Club is one of Australia’s first polo clubs, dating back to 1870. Home to five world-class polo fields, the club sits on over 450 acres of prime agriculture land. Eight international teams will compete to be crowned World Champions. Of the eight teams set to compete, two teams, Chile and Australia, automatically secured their places in the competition. Chile as the reigning World Champions won the 2015 X FIP World Polo Championship and Australia as the host nation.
Following the XI FIP World Polo Championship Zone “A” Playoffs in April 2017, USA qualified to compete in the World Championship. Joining the USA in Pool A will be Australia, Spain and Argentina, while Pool B consists of Chile, England, New Zealand and India. The tournament will consist of a total of fourteen matches, played over a six-day period.
FIP founders Marcos Uranga and Glen Holden saw it was vital to establish an international championship because they knew the best way for a sport to grow was through international activities. The creation of a World Polo Championship—of which there have been ten so far—has been the most important of the Federation’s keys to success in publicizing the game and creating greater public awareness. To have the largest possible number of countries participating, the early FIP organizers decided to limit competition to teams rated 10 to 14 goals.
The United States Polo Association has selected a team of highly qualified players to represent the USA. Players confirmed to train and go to Australia are Felipe Viana (5), Jesse Bray (5), Herndon Radcliff (3), Jim Wright (2) and Daniel “Cacho” Galindo (2). Additional players will be considered for the final roster. Joel Baker, who guided the USA team to a second place finish in the 2015 X FIP World Polo Championship will join the team as the official USA coach.
Beginning October 1, Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington, Florida, will host training for the USA team to prepare for their journey to the XI FIP World Polo Championship. The USPA would like to thank Marc and Melissa Ganzi for the generous use of their facilities for USA’s World Polo Championship preparations.
Effective Date: Saturday, May 16, 2020
The suspension of USPA Tournaments and Events will be lifted for USPA Member Clubs in locales where hosting polo matches and tournaments is permitted under applicable state and local laws, executive orders and similar decrees. The USPA Member Clubs in these locales are encouraged to follow all such requirements of their state and local authorities with respect to polo operations. In addition, we also encourage all USPA Member Clubs to take the precautions recommended by the CDC. We are preparing a detailed list of best practices for USPA Member Clubs as they return to hosting USPA Tournaments and Events and plan to circulate these guidelines within the next week. We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely and will notify you if we determine a different course of action is necessary.
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