The Abuja Unity Polo Tournament packaged by the Abuja Guard Polo club in collaboration with some corporate organisations will gallop off next week at the Abuja guard brigade Polo club. The tournament is the third edition in series of the annual Unity polo event.
As part of events lined-up to commemorate Nigeria’s democratic rule anniversary, top profile polo players from Argentina, South Africa and England have confirmed their participation in this year prestigious Unity Polo Tournament.
The five day tournament which is scheduled to hold between May 15th and 20th, 2012 at the Abuja Guard Brigade Polo Club’s field promises to be one of the biggest polo festivals in the country and it will attract 21 polo clubs from across the country.?
Tournament sponsor and event manager Bem Garba revealed that this year’s edition of the annual event would not be only used to commemorate and celebrate Nigeria’s 13 years democratic rule, but to support some charity organisations. “The month of May is a special month in the history of Nigeria’s calendar since the transition of the country from military rule to civil rule in 1999.
As responsible citizens, we in the last three years decided we would contribute our quota to the festivities that will be used to mark the transition every year. Polo Unity tournament is an annual event and this year will mark the third edition of the tournament. It is an event that brings polo players from all over the country to Abuja to celebrate with the government and show our support in sustaining democracy.
“This year will be a special one because we are going to have our counterpart from Argentina, South Africa and England who would come to play and celebrate with us.
Another aspect of this year’s edition is that it will be dedicated to charity work. We want to use it to support a charity organisation called Global Initiative for Love and Care. The organisation has been supporting widows and orphan children and we want to identify with them,” he said.
According to the club captain, Mustapha Junaidu, players will sweat it out for honours in four different categories. The categories are high gold class tagged President Cup, medium gold class call Legislative Cup, intermediate gold known as guard brigade cup and the low gold, called guard Challenge Cup.
“Only the invited foreign players and Nigerian best polo players within +8 to +12 handicap will participate in the high gold which is called the President Cup. Medium gold or legislative cup feature players within +3 to +7 handicap, players from level -2 to +2 handicap will compete in intermediate gold while the lower rank players from level -4 to -2 will have the feel of the celebration in low gold, called Guard Challenge Cup.
Also commenting on the tournament, Nigeria Polo Federation President Francis Ogboru in an exclusive chat with LEADERSHIP SPORTS said he is very impressed with the turn out of the teams that will participate in the tournament, he said:even though the Abuja Guard Brigade Polo Club are not part of the NPF but they have applied to become a member and very soon they will become part of the NPF family, The NPF is going to support the tournament and very soon it will become part of the NPF calender, I am very impressed with the number of teams that are going to participate in the tournament and we are fully behind them.
Some of the high profile players that? will compete in the five day tournament are former speaker of the house of Representative, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, Nigerian famous polo star, Bello Buba, Mohammed Babangida, Ibrahim Mohammed, chairman Abuja Guard Brigade Polo Club, Senator Hadi Sirika, Hon. Aliyu Wadada, Diego White of Keffi Ponys, Gonzalo Bourdieu of Rubicon and several others.