Team MASERATI - Winner Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz 2016 - ! Congratulations ! - NAANII GLOBAL Luxury/Quality Family Lifestyle MAGAZINE 'en Vogue' - NAANII GLOBAL Quality & Luxury Family Lifestyle - MAGAZINE 'en Vogue'-

For the first time, italian  'Rommy Gianni’s'   Team MASERATI won the Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz’ Cartier Trophy with a 4:5 victory over Team Cartier in the Final !

Congratulations  Rommy Gianni (ITA|1), Luciano Vazquez (ESP|2), Dario Musso (ARG|7), Frankie Menendes (ARG|6) !


13’000 spectators and more than 100 members of the media delighted in watching polo being played at a level rarely seen on snow to date.
«Every match this year was like a final» said Maserati’s patron Rommy Gianni after his team’s victory in Sunday’s Final against Team Cartier.
Maserati’s victory marked the end of the dominance of Team CARTIER who had won the coveted «Cartier Trophy» three years in a row. Maserati and Cartier had made their ambitions clear from the beginning of the games.

The first match of the tournament had been between the three year consecutive winners, Cartier and the Swiss cross Brazil team, Perrier-Jouët, with a 6-3 win for the more experienced all-English Cartier team. Match two was more hotly contended with a 3-2 win from Rommy Gianni’s Maserati over Melissa Ganzi’s Badrutt’s Palace Hotel team.

The action continued Saturday 30 as Badrutt’s Palace Hotel celebrated their first win after an exciting, five chukka match, which finished 6-5 thanks to Mariano Gracida’s golden goal. Also running into an extra chukka, the match between Cartier and Maserati was won 5-4 by Cartier after Gonzalez scored the all-important golden goal. They may have lost out this time but Maserati were still smiling. Due to their victory in the direct encounter with Badrutt’s Palace Hotel, they still went through to the Final, to be played against Cartier—Sunday was to see the same pairings as Saturday.

After four high-class games under bright blue skies played against the breathtaking backdrop of the Engadine mountains came the social highlight of the event: at Saturday’s Snow Polo Night, the polo family celebrated into the early hours, starting in the Badrutt’s Palace hotel’s packed ballroom to then move on to the hotel's King’s Club. On Sunday, back on the lake of St. Moritz, the spectators gathered around the polo field and cheered the teams on enthusiastically despite the somewhat drizzly weather.


Subsidiary Final: Badrutt’s Palace Hotel vs Perrier-Jouët



As was the case in Saturday's match between Badrutt’s Palace Hotel and Perrier-Jouët, the presence of the Argentine 9 goaler Tincho Merlos made all the difference and was crucial to securing them another win for the La Martina Cup. It was Merlos who scored the first goal for the blues and Merlos who answered Perrier-Jouët’s first goal with a beautiful solo run down the field, to bring the score to 2-1 at the end of chukka two.

The third chukka saw Perrier-Jouët equalise, 2-2, from a spot penalty but they couldn’t quite get an advantage as the fouls kept coming. A safety 60 for the blues looked to be going wide but Gaudenzi plucked it out of the air and sent it whizzing neatly through the posts. The chukka ended 4-3 thanks to another goal from Merlos and an answering goal for Perrier-Jouët.

The yellow team didn’t take advantage of their two penalties in the final chukka, sending them both wide to the right allowing Badrutt’s Palace Hotel a chance to widen the gap and move to safety with another goal from Merlos, ending the match 5-3. Ganzi, Merlos, Gaudenzi and Gracida lifted the La Martina Cup high in triumph.


Final for The Cartier Trophy – Cartier vs Maserati



Maserati the mighty have broken the spell of Chris Hyde and his Cartier team by winning the Final of the Snow Polo World Cup St Moritz for The Cartier Trophy. Saturday’s game had been tough, but the Musso and Menendes duo, with the support of Vazquez and Gianni, had learnt a tough lesson about how to navigate round Hyde and Gonzalez on the ice.

The first chukka set the tone for the remainder of the game with Hyde and Gonzalez powering through the wall of Maserati white shirts to score the first two goals of the game. Maserati’s Musso scored two goals to answer the Cartier lead and end the chukka on a tie, 2-2.

The second chukka was tough for both sides, with only one goal scored by Menendes to take Maserati into the lead. Cartier managed to win five penalties but failed to score with any of them, Maserati only won a single penalty in the whole chukka. Gonzalez and Hyde broke away on a number of occasions to show the crowd their powerful ponies but the Maserati defence followed their weekend-long strategy – shut down the top players at all costs. The first half of the game ended with Maserati in the lead, 3-2.

Cartier’s Gonzalez started the penultimate chukka with a penalty. The powdery uneven surface was hard work for the players and the ponies and a few critical errors from the three-time winners Cartier, meant that Maserati were able to extend their lead to 5-2 going into the final chukka. The play was speckled with beautiful team work from Cartier, with each player passing to one another, up and down the field. Hyde managed to convert two penalties to close the gap 5-4.

With just one minute left on the clock, Cartier looked as though they would equalise and take the game into an extra chukka. But it was not to be - Maserati remained hot on their heels, maintaining the pressure right down to the last second, to win the 32nd Snow Polo World Cup St Moritz.

About St Moritz

The town of St Moritz is located in the Engadin valley in Switzerland. St. Moritz hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948 an will be hosting the alpine ski world championships for the fifth time in 2017. In 1985, the first ever polo tournament on snow was held here. The Snow Polo World Cup St Moritz, organised by Evviva Polo St Moritz Ltd is not the only winter sport spectacle at this time of year. The famous Cresta Run is not far away, and after the Snow Polo World Cup St Moritz, the frozen lake plays host to White Turf, horse racing like you have never seen it before. The event first started nearly 100 years ago in 1907 and will this year be held on the 7, 14 and 21 February.

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Game 5 / Spiel 5: The La Martina Cup

Perrier-Jouët (15): Cédric Schweri (SUI|0), Luca Zindel (SUI|1), Aluisio Rosa (BRA|7), Olavo Novaes (BRA|7)

Badrutt's Palace Hotel (15): Melissa Ganzi (USA|0), Agustín ‘Tincho’ Merlos (ARG|9), Mariano Gracida (USA|4), Tito Gaudenzi (SUI|2)

Result: Badrutt’s Palace Hotel – Perrier-Jouët: 5–3

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Game 6 / Spiel 6 (Final): The Cartier Trophy

Maserati (16): Rommy Gianni (ITA|1), Luciano Vazquez (ESP|2), Dario Musso (ARG|7), Frankie Menendes (ARG|6)

Cartier (14): Spencer McCarthy (ENG|1), Charlie Wooldridge (ENG|1), Chris Hyde (ENG|6), Nacho Gonzalez (ENG|6)

Result: Maserati – Cartier: 5–4
Maserati is the winner of the Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz 2016
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Sponsors and partners of the Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz 2016



St. Moritz welcomes Maserati and Perrier-Jouët among the team sponsors of the Snow Polo World Cup. The two premium brands joins the league of Cartier, Badrutt’s Palace Hotel, Deutsche Bank Wealth Management, and La Martina, who are renewing their commitments as team sponsors, gold sponsor and official outfitter respectively.



Team sponsors
Cartier, Badrutt’s Palace Hotel, Maserati, Perrier-Jouët



Gold sponsor
Deutsche Bank Wealth Management



Sponsors
Bombardier, Brioni, Dorchester Collection, Heineken,  Kasperskian, Lufthansa First Class, Milanoventuno, Confiserie Sprüngli, Trois Pommes, Maura Wasescha

Official outfitter
La Martina

Official airline
Lufthansa First Class

Supporters
City of St. Moritz, Engadin St. Moritz Tourism Organisation, See-Infra Ltd, Klinik Gut, Oscar Christoffel Ltd, Ender Sport, Skiservice Corvatsch, Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz

Trophy sponsors
Cartier, Deutsche Bank Wealth Management, La Martina, Lufthansa First Class, Maserati, Trois Pommes

Partner hotels
Badrutt’s Palace Hotel, Carlton Hotel, Kempinski Grand Hôtel des Bains, Kulm Hotel St. Moritz, Hotel Steffani, Hotel Crystal, Hotel Corvatsch, Hotel Laudinella, Hotel Sonne

VIP Catering
Mathis Food Affairs

Official suppliers
Cecchetto, Heineken, Kasperskian, Cigar Must, Perrier-Jouët, Confiserie Sprüngli, Passugger

Fotos: Copyright Snow Polo World Cup, St. Moritz 2016, all rights reserved