WELLINGTON, Florida – The Philippine-based GlobalPort aims for polo glory on the sport’s biggest stage as it competes for the title of the United States Polo Association (USPA) Bronze Cup on Tuesday at the sidelines of the ongoing Gauntlet of Polo here.
Led by 1Pacman partly-list Rep. Mikee Romero and five-goaler Filipino American Anthony Garcia, GlobalPort will seek revenge against its tormentor in their bracket match, the unbeaten Quite on Z, at the Grand Champions Polo Club.
GlobalPort crashed into the finals with a thrilling 10-9 come-from-behind victory in overtime over Casablanca on Friday.
Trailing by five goals, 3-8, at halftime and 4-9 at the end of the fourth chukker, the GP quartet rallied in the fifth. Two-goaler Jack Whitman scored two goals on penalties to narrow the gap to 8-9 going into the sixth and final chukker.
Then Beltran Lualhe, the 18-year-old Argentinian 6-goaler, took charge, sprinting to score from the air and sending the match into overtime at 9-9 before going coast-to-coast with the winning goal just a minute into sudden-death overtime.
It was an epic comeback for GlobalPort, who lost to Quite on Z, 8-9, during bracket play on Tuesday, before securing a thrilling victory over Casablanca to Earn a spot in the final match. On Feb. 26, GlobalPort defeated Los Machitos, 11-9, in their opening game.
“It was a great game, lots of fun. For a while there, it looked like we were going to get washed out,” Garcia, a close friend of Romero and coach of the Philippine team that took the bronze in the 1991 Southeast Asian Games polo competition, was quoted as saying.
Garcia is a 44-year-old Filipino American who competed for the US team in the World Polo Championship in 1998. His mother is the former beauty queen Carolyn Masibay.
The USPA Bronze Cup is a 12-goal tournament taking place within what Romero referred to as the “Olympics of polo,” the Gauntlet of Polo.
The Gauntlet is a trilogy of tournaments considered the sport’s triple crown, held in the winter at the National Polo Center here. It includes the recently concluded Whitney Cup won by La Dolfina/Tamera, the ongoing USPA Gold Cup, and the culminating US Open Polo Championship starting March 24. The Gauntlet is a 22-goal series regarded as the pinnacle of competition in the sport. A 22-goal tournament is a top-level competition where the handicaps of the four players on the team total a maximum of 22 goals.
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GlobalPort is debuting in the series, with team owner Romero making history by becoming the first Filipino to score a goal in the team’s opening match victory against Park Place in the Whitney Cup last month. GP went on to qualify for the Whitney Cup
semi-finals before bowing out with a loss to Coca-Cola.
In the ongoing USPA Gold Cup, GlobalPort, led by Argentinian star 10-goal Barto Castagnola, will face La Dolfina/Tamera. The quartet made up of Castagnola, Romero, Lucas Alberdi, and Santos Merlos lost their opening match to Park Place,7-12, on
March 3.
The USPA Gold Up ends with the final on March 23. The US Open starts the next day.
