Fresh from the Christmas and New Year festivities, the glamorous Nigerian polo season galloped off with fanfare on January 12, 2020, with the Port Harcourt International Polo Tournament, over twenty top teams across the country jostle for top honours in four major categories.
Port Harcourt Polo Tournament Manager, Victor Fingesi who disclosed this to the media, stated that arrangements have been concluded ahead of what would be the most exciting polo tournament in the Rivers State capital city for decades.
Fingesi who further confirmed that the prestigious polo festival billed to climax with fanfare on January 18, 2020, stated that arrangements have been concluded ahead of what would be the most exciting polo tournament in the Rivers State capital city for decades.
Port Harcourt Polo Captain, Barrister Attoni also disclosed that the grand fiesta will see participating teams jostling prizes in four cups categories including for the event’s biggest prize, Gen Hassan Usman Katsina Cup, that pitches three teams from Jos, Kaduna and Port Harcourt in a royal rumble.
Other glittering cups that are on offer during the ten-day festival include the President Cup, the Governors’ Cup and the crowded T Y Danjuma Cup, that attracted the highest number of teams annually. Other individual awards are lined up for players and patrons who would distinguish during the year-opening tournament.
With traditional rivals and former champions like Abuja Rubicon, Kaduna Trappco and other ambitious teams from all the major polo clubs across expected, the high profile polo fiesta, promises to live up to the billings as the biggest polo event in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of the country.
Polo Royals checks also confirmed that apart from visiting teams that are from major polo centres across the country already on the ground to vie for top honours, host Port Harcourt is readying a battery of over six home-based teams to vie for all the major prizes, with Stratabase leading the charge in the Gen. Hassan Cup rumble.
Regulars and debuting teams from Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Kano, Abuja, Minna, Katsina, Yola, Bauchi, Jos, Keffi and Zaria will be matching talents and wits in what promises to be weeklong of intense, invigorating polo at the highest level.
Polo Royals findings indicate that the expected participation of top Nigerian stars and world-class professionals has already hype the festival to the high heavens. Expectedly, polo aficionados and tourists are salivating at the prospect of yet another Port Harcourt high goal polo extravaganza.
As one of the biggest polo tournaments and the most prestigious polo carnival in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria, enthusiasts are in for a special treat in what promises to deliver intense, invigorating polo at the highest level in the Garden City.
A release by the Tournament Committee, further disclosed that the festival would surpass last year’s edition in every scope as traditional sponsors and other benefactors have rallied around the club, to host another successful and exciting festival.
According to the statement, a grand package of entertainment featuring the best hands in the industry has been put in place for the teeming polo buffs, players and invited guests during the festival, while a long list of high profile personalities is expected to witness the grand finale.
As a Grade, A NPF polo showdown, the biggest attraction of the Niger Delta Festival lies in its regional appeal, which for years has been the pride of Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers and host Rivers states.
The fact that polo enthusiasts from Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi and neighbouring Imo and Abia states attend this festival annually in their droves, attest to the immense tourism and social values of the exciting game of kings in the region.
