The University of Oxford Polo Club won the Metropolitan Intervarsity Polo 2016 tournament, aka The London Challenge, in Tianjin today after beating The Cornell Polo Club in a high-quality competition that served as the climax of the invitational competition.
The Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club was hosting the competition for the fourth time, and again invited the cream of the crop of polo teams from universities in the US and UK to compete. After seeing off competition from Harvard in yesterday’s semi final, Oxford put Cornell to the sword to be crowned 2016 champions. Harvard had beaten Skidmore, who were making their debut in the tournament, in their semi final.
2nd Place - Cornell University
Before the final took place the crowd was treated to an exhibition match featuring young Chinese members of the Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club. Kevin Tai, Lawrence Lin, Arthur Lin and Kevin Quan gave a positive glimpse of the future of the sport in China, as they scored two goals against a team comprised of members of the visiting foreign universities. They lost the game 6-2.5 but showed impressive steel that belied their young ages.
3rd Place - Skidmore College
Following Oxford'€™s victory Skidmore Polo Club chalked up an easy win against Harvard University Polo Club, beating off their fellow university with a resounding 10-2.5 win. Charlie Bullis, Skidmore'€™s talisman throughout the tournament, was again the driving force, scoring eight of his teams ten goals with a polo masterclass from start to finish.
4th Place - Harvard University
5th Place - Cambridge University
6th Place - London University
The sun set mark the end of another scintillating Metropolitan Intervarsity Polo 2016 tournament.
Metropolitan Intervarsity Polo 2016 - The London Challenge
Final positions 1. Oxford 2. Cornell 3. Skidmore 4. Harvard 5. Cambridge 6. London
Most Valuable Player: Charlie Hitchman from Oxford The Best Playing Pony: Salsa