The drive to market Barbados as a sporting destination has been given a boost by the successful staging of the inaugural Kenya vs. Barbados Polo Challenge series – thanks to the combined efforts of the Barbados and the Clifton Polo Clubs.
The visitors lost the four-match series 3-1 – including last Sunday’s final by the narrowest of margins, 5-1/2 goals to 5.
Polo-loving fans were treated to exquisite strokeplay, controlled aggression, and fine horsemanship from the four-man Kenyan team comprising captain Jamie Murray, Philip Arungah, Archibald Voorpuy, and Gordy Millar.
The Kenyans entered last Sunday’s final trailing Barbados 2-1 and with everything to play for including the prestigious TeleBarbados Challenge Trophy.
Barbados started the game with a half-goal advantage. The first chukka saw both teams close marking each other and it ended with each team scoring one goal.
From the second chukka the Kenyans stepped up the pace and had the Barbadian team of Philip Tempro, Jamie Dickson, and Richard and Adam Deane on the backfoot for most of the period.
However, Adam Deane countered to put Barbados up 2-1/2 to 1.
It was not long before the visitors fought back with two goals in quick succession to jump into the lead, with the first coming by way of a 30-yard penalty from the mallet of captain Jamie Murray, and the other from the oldest player on the team, Voorpuy.
With the visitors now leading 3 to 2-1/2 at the beginning of the third chukka the game started to get a bit scrappy as both teams stepped up their aggression for ball possession.
Tempro managed to pull Barbados back into contention with a well-executed goal at the northern side of the field. However, Millar struck for the Kenyans less than a minute later to restore his team’s half-goal advantage (4 to 3-1/2).
Sensing that the game was in danger of slipping away, the hosts scored two unanswered goals bringing the score to 5 to 5-1/2.
There were a number of missed opportunities throughout the game by both teams, the most costly being the missed penalty in the dying seconds of the final chukka that would have secured victory for their side.
The ultimate winners of the series were the needy children of the Barbados Community Foundation and House of Hope Foundation in Kenya since the gate receipts from all the matches as well as monies raised at the auction afterwards will be donated to these worthwhile and needy charities.
