The Ralph Lauren International Ladies Polo Tournament – the first-ever ladies-only polo tournament in the region – took place at the Desert Palm in Dubai last weekend, breaking new ground for women's sport in the UAE.
Held under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Maitha bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who captained Team UAE to the title, the event proved to be a massive success, with all the ladies providing a clinical demonstration of some world-class polo.
“We were lucky to have some of the best polo players in the world,” Sheikha Maitha said. “The world’s top two players, Sunny Hale playing for Team Asia, and Marianela Castagnola playing on Team UAE, both were fantastic which is why the level of competition was very high.
“For the men in the crowd, this could possibly be the first time they’ve seen such a high level of performance in ladies polo and I’m proud that it was showcased here in the UAE.”
Such was the success of the inaugural event, discussions have already begun to make it a bigger, annual event.
Sheikha Maitha added: “I think initially we just wanted to test the waters but now there’s a strong support, they want it annually, and I think we’ll see more top women players, who were contracted to play other tournaments. But they want to come next year so hopefully we’ll see more teams and better performance from the girls.”
The Desert Palm Resort played host to the four-day tournament, and owner Ali Al Bawardi, says he’s looking forward to hosting more ladies’ events in the future.
“Dubai always takes the lead in everything,” said Al Bawardi. “UAE polo is big right now. Of course having women’s events is the natural growth of the sport. This is our first year but this event I’d like to take it to a bigger scale. We started with four teams, next year we’ll have more, perhaps eight teams.”
The Ralph Lauren International Ladies Polo Tournament is superbly captured on this short clip as players and organisers alike hail the staging of this ground-breaking event.
