Six Nations to Compete in Tianjin Snow Polo Competition

The Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club, a new polo club with some of the largest facilities in China, will host Asia’s first ‘Snow Polo’ tournament between 15 - 20 February 2011.

The Metropolitan International Snow Polo Challenge Tournament will be a competition between six teams from the world’s leading polo playing nations: England, France, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and China.

Two matches will be played daily in a league format, 14 goal open, during the week-long event.

Snow polo originated in the Swiss winter resort of St. Moritz in 1985 and is considered the pinnacle of the polo sport for its spectacle. The game is contested by three players on each side with an orange ball slightly bigger than is traditionally played on grass.

This prestigious international event will be played on China’s newest and largest polo field, with an array of family fun and sports excitement, against a backdrop representing an Alpine village, featuring a winter wonderland of ice sculptures.

As Tianjin’s most exclusive members-only club, the star-studded guest list will include international and Chinese officials and celebrities.

The tournament winners will take home a trophy made by Asprey, the famed bespoke jewellers to Britain’s royal family.

Metropolitan Polo Club’s first tournament, the inaugural ‘Goldin Cup’, was contested by international professional players from England, Australia and New Zealand. The home team won by scores of 6:3 against the visiting team.

The opening was celebrated by local and overseas officials and dignities, including the Mayor of Tianjin Huang Xing Guo; Robert Mundell, Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics; Peter Yunghanns of the Federation of International Polo and Nicholas Colquhoun Denvers, Chairman of the Hurlingham Polo Association.

The professional international management team at Metropolitan Polo Club is headed by Paul Stevens, General Manager, former manager of Guards Polo Club, England. With him in the team are Derek Reid, Head Polo Professional, former Australian polo captain, and John Fisher, Director of Stable Operations, former England player, whose home club is Cowdray Park, England.

Metropolitan Polo Club is the flagship venue for the Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan mega-project, which also incorporates residential buildings and villas, office towers, shopping and convention centres.

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