That Argentina is the greatest power in world polo is no secret.
And that
Adolfo Cambiaso
and
La Dolfina
are synonymous with history and success in that sport, either.
That is why it is not surprising that the best player in the world has expanded his brand, that of the team that won the prestigious
Palermo Open
fifteen times , throughout the world.
The last destination where the leader of the Cañuelas group landed was
Saudi Arabia
.
Cambiaso, along with his children
Poroto
and
Mia
, his colleagues from La Dolfina,
Juan Martín Nero
and
David Stirling
and other prominent Argentine polo players, participated in the third edition of the
Richard Mille AlUla Desert Polo
, the only tournament of this discipline that has been held. It takes place in a desert and is the first official competition organized by the Saudi federation, created just six years ago.
The visit of the best player in the world to
AlUla
, a tourist destination located 1,100 kilometers from the capital Riyadh, was the framework for the signing of a strategic alliance between La Dolfina and the Royal Commission for AlUla.
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Cambiaso was named global ambassador of that city and it was agreed to create a new Polo Academy in the country, with training programs and tournament management.
The agreement also establishes that La Dolfina will provide horses and will be in charge of directing the players who participate in the academy.
The leader of the Cañuelas quartet also committed to promoting AlUla as a unique tourist destination in every corner of the world he travels to.
The alliance aims to "significantly support the growth and development of desert polo in AlUla and establish northwest Arabia as the number one winter destination for equestrian sports," said
Zaid Alsuhaibani
, Executive Program Director for Sports at the Royal Commission. for AlUla.
"Having La Dolfina join our network of international partners, sharing their years of knowledge, sporting achievements and the experience of winning important international tournaments, will contribute to taking equestrian sports in this city to a higher level of sophistication, participation and enthusiasm "added Alsuhaibani, who exchanged the shirts of the
AlUla Football Club
and the Argentine national team with Cambiaso.
Cambiaso and Alsuhaibani exchanged the shirts of the AlUla soccer team and the Argentine national team.
La Dolfina Press Photo
Eight teams were protagonists during the four days of competition, in which polo players who usually shine in the Argentine Triple Crown shared the field with professional players from other countries, the most relevant polo patrons in the world and members of Saudi royalty.
Adolfito was crowned champion, with his Saudia
teammates
, American
Melissa Ganzi
and Nigerian
Sayyu Dantata
.
In the final, they beat Richard Mille
9 to 5
, whose captain was
Pablo MacDonough
, former La Dolfina player and champion last year in Palermo with
La Natividad
, and completed by the Australian David Paradise and Yoanna Hanbury.
The tournament was played on a sand court built in the middle of the desert especially for the occasion, in a place with more than 200,000 years of history and home to
Hegra
, the country's first site inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage
list
.
The tournament was played on a court specially set up for the occasion in a place with more than 200 thousand years of history.
La Dolfina Press Photo
Also known as
al-Hijr or Mada'in Saleh
, the ancient city of around 52 hectares is one of Saudi Arabia's main archaeological attractions and is home to more than 100 monumental tombs with ornate facades cut into the sandstone outcrops, which surround that walled urban settlement.
The place is in a good state of conservation and dates back to the 1st centuries BC and 1st AD.
It is not the first time that Cambiaso and company visit that historic place.
At the beginning of 2020, months after having won the Argentine Open, the entire La Dolfina team (which at that time was formed with MacDonough instead of
Poroto
), landed in Saudi lands to play an exhibition as part of the
Tantorafestival
, a celebration of 12 weekends in the historic Al Madina Al Munawara region, in order to stimulate the development of polo in the country.
They returned two years later, in February 2022, a trip that established a first alliance, strengthened by the one signed in 2024.
Cambiaso traveled with Nero, Stirling, Mac Donough and other prominent world polo players.
La Dolfina Press Photo
"When we traveled for the first edition of the
Desert Polo
, we were struck by the stunning scenery of Hegra and the AlUla Desert," said Cambiaso ahead of his second trip to the region.
"AI-Ula's relationship with horses goes back thousands of years, this can be seen in the archaeological inscriptions on the rocks in AlUla and its surroundings. It is like an open-air museum. The commitment and passion to develop polo and "Sports in general is a mission that we share with AlUla and in which we want to collaborate," he added.
The recent visit of the Cambiasos to the historic place left several special postcards, such as the one of
Poroto
posing with Prince
Salman bin Mansour
in front of the
Elephant Rock
, a rock more than 52 meters high with a peculiar elephant shape given by the erosion of wind and water for thousands of years.
Poroto Cambiaso and Prince Salman bin Mansour in front of Elephant Rock.
La Dolfina Press Photo
In addition, Mia Cambiaso - who starred in a commercial for a renowned British luxury car brand, the impressive landscape of AI-Ula in the background -,
Lía Salvo
and
Nina Clarkin
, three figures of women's polo in Argentina, led a Polo Clinic for teach and promote the values of sport among Saudi women.
For revenge, with the same quartet
The adventure through Saudi Arabia, the experience of playing on a different field and the new alliance with AlUla marked the beginning of 2024 in which
La Dolfina
will seek revenge in the Argentine
Triple Crown
, the most important trio of tournaments in the world of polo. that last season left him with little pleasure.
And she will do it with the same formation that lost the final in Palermo a few months ago.
It is that although at the beginning of last season, Adolfo Cambiaso had warned that 2023 would be the last year that he would share with his son Poroto, to let him put together his own team, after the defeat in the
Argentine Open
he backed down: "It is a gift to be able compete and enjoy at 48 years old. Happy to continue next year sharing the court with my son and my friends," he wrote on Instagram.
The La Dolfina quartet, Hurlingham champions last year, will play in the 2024 Triple Crown. Photo Matías Callejo / AAP Press
Thus, La Dolfina, champion last year in
Hurlingham
, will face the Argentine high handicap season with a 40-goal team, with Cambiaso at 1, the Uruguayan David Stirling at 2, Poroto with the 3 shirt and Juan Martín Nero at
back
.
His great rival will be another quartet with a perfect rating, which last year embittered him in the Tortugas semis and stole the title in Palermo,
La Natividad
.
The other team from Cañuelas also did not make changes and will form with
Facundo Pieres
(again 10 handicap),
Camilo
Jeta
Castagnola
,
Pablo Mac Donough
and
Bartolomé Castagnola
.