A historical edition of the Open de France came to an end on Sunday, September 18, at Polo Club du Domaine de Chantilly as Talandracas claimed France’s most prestigious trophy after 20 years, the second time the organization won the title in their remarkable career.
The road to the final for Talandracas and Los Dragones was very different: Los Dragones made it to the final match undefeated, having won their five games, while Talandracas lost to Kazak in their debut game, but bounced back to claim the remaining matches.
As one of the players stated after the match, the final was completely different to the games that had taken place in the tournament. Talandracas got off to a fierce start, in what was perhaps their best performance of the whole tournament. They overwhelmed Los Dragones from the get go, with extraordinary discipline and accurate team play. It is remarkable to note that the first foul only came in the fourth chukka. Juan Martín Zubía gave another outstanding performance as Talandracas’ leading man and top scorer. Talandracas’ dominance was so powerful, they were able to reach a commanding 6-1 lead by half time.
While the Sztarkman family team pushed back in the second half, Talandracas had other ideas, working hard to cut their opponents off at every opportunity while Huges Carmignac and Rufino Bensadon found the flags several times to widen their advantage. The final result, 11-5, clearly marked Talandracas’ dominance over the five chukkas of play.
THE OPEN DE FRANCE WAS STREAMED LIVE ON POLOLINE TV; ALL THE GAMES ARE AVAILABLE TO RELIVE HERE.
FINAL OPEN DE FRANCE: TALANDRACAS 11-5 LOS DRAGONES
TALANDRACAS: Hugues Carmignac 1 (1 goal), Rufino Bensadon 7 (4), Juan Martín Zubía 8 (6), Edouard Carmignac 0. Total: 16.
LOS DRAGONES: Sam Sztarkman 2 (1 goal), Jota Chavanne 5 (1), Bautista Bayugar 8 (3), Alex Sztarkman 1. Total: 16.
Score Talandracas: 2-0, 3-0, 6-1, 10-3, 11-5.
Umpires: Gaston Lucero & Jason Dixon.
Third man: Peter Wright.
MVP: Juan Martín Zubía.
BPP: Peregrino La Banda, ridden by Rufino Bensadon.
Amateur MVP: Hugues Carmignac.
OPEN DE FRANCE: Fixture & Teams
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