The glamorous national polo tour that galloped off in Katsina in September is very much in the north central region, as the much anticipated 2021 Abuja Carnival Polo Tournament will expectedly gallop off tomorrow at the serene Guards Polo Club in Asokoro, Abuja.
Guards Polo Club’s acting Chairman Musty Junaid and acting Vice Chairman Jamilu Mohammed both confirmed that over twenty ambitious polo teams from all the major polo centres across the country would be participating in the prestigious carnival fiesta.
Among the invading army of participants are the defending champions, Abuja Rubicon, the rampaging IGP Police team who won the Mani Cup Kaduna fortnight ago, and the top firing Nigerian Army team who are still smarting from conquest at the Jaji polo last week.
It was gathered that unlike previous years where the fiesta has been decided over two stages, this edition of the tourney would be a straight ten days of exciting competition.
Revered for its pomp and cutting edge rivalry, the polo grand slam has already been oversubscribed days after invitation letters went out to various clubs in what promises to be the most competitive edition in years.
It was also revealed that a lot of exciting innovations have been introduced in the 2021 tournament, with the introduction of the Argentine Ambassador Cup which was moved from Kaduna to Abuja for logistics reasons and the expected return of former champions, Abuja Almat polo team.
Guards Polo Captain Nasiru Lukat advised visiting teams to arrive in good time to give their ponies enough rest ahead of the carnival firestorm. He listed major prizes to be won in the weeklong festival including the event’s biggest prize, the President Cup.
Others are the highly revered Guards Challenge Trophy, the evergreen Legislative Cup and the glittering Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Ministers Cup and a handful of subsidiary prizes and individual awards to be carted home by deserving winners.
Organized and hosted by the Guards Brigade Polo Club, the polo event that is staged annually as part of the foremost Abuja Carnival, with thousands of tourists and Abuja residents thronged the serene polo arena in Asokoro in their droves.
Carnival Polo Tournament and the prestigious Unity Polo Festival, remain the two biggest sporting events that traditionally turn the serene Guards Polo Ground into the battlefield of high-end polo, with diplomats, international VIPs and celebrities from far and wide bathing in excitement.
The prestigious 2020 Carnival polo tournament that hit Abuja with a bang climaxed with teams playing from Jos, Kano and host Abuja sweeping the stakes in the national fiesta that featured twenty-eight teams.
Rubicon tops the list of golden buzzers, clinching the President Cup, while Fas-Agro made Kano proud emerging champions in the legislative Cup race while Dawule Baba’s DeeBee Farms from Abuja smiled home with the FCT Ministers Cup.
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