Trophy number 5 in the bag

At the beginning of the year, I had set out a target of netting 6 trophies for the year. The Summer Cup win makes it trophy number 5 and boy, this was probably the toughest trophy to have landed. We played my old team, Wilderness Ranch from Catspring, TX. I will be the first to say that I did not have the best game. I think that the team knew exactly how I like to play, quite far up the field, running with the ball in attack, and closed me down very quickly. The entire Chandler Ranch team was pretty much shackled for 3 chukkers, with Wilderness leading until the end of the 3rd chukker where I managed to score a quick double to tie the score at 3-3. Chandler Ranch finally clicked into top gear in the final chukker, which seems to be something of a trademark, and Joe Chandler put in a goal after shrugging off a good challenge from Kendall Planck before I managed to set up a goal for Hernan. Hernan and Remy played an awesome game and really ran the show in this final.

Interestingly, due to the previous rain days, the final also served as the opening game for the Centennial Cup, in which we also beat No Le Hace this past weekend. That puts us in a very strong position for the season, unbeaten thus far with 5 wins. Let’s keep the faith and aim to go the whole season without losing. It’s a massive task but I believe we can do it.

Hernan Tejera, Ameer Jumabhoy, Remy Muller and Joe Chandler

It’s going to be odd

Who could have dreamt of this blistering start to the season? The team has a WWW start, a perfect record and the only side in the 4 goal league that has an unbeaten and perfect record. Yesterday, we played the dream team- Horsegate.

Horsegate is based out in Brookshire and their patron is a really nice kid called Sloan Stefanakis (-1). The rest of the team was two Argentine professionals (Martin Munoz (2) and Ariel (0)) and one American professional (Jimmy Seward (3)). 

This game was a stern test of Chandler Ranch’s credential’s as the top side this season and in many ways, Chandler Ranch vs. Horsegate was the clash of the two ‘dream teams’ in the Houston 4 goal league.

It was certainly a very Jekyll and Hyde game for me. Horsegate put Ariel onto me and he did not give me a moment’s breathing space , man marking me extremely tightly and not letting me play my usual game. As a result, the number 2 position on both sides was neutralized for the first two chukkers. Seeing my inability to escape from my man mark, Remy put in a massive shift in performance and had us 2-0 up before Horsegate came back to equalize through Jimmy and Martin just before half-time.

The half-time break was crucial for me because I then got on my two best horses Alena and Luna for the final two chukkers and the game changed completely for me and I played much closer to my usual style with a lot more freedom and a classic number 2′s style of play. I managed to get us 3-2 up after a lofted ball by Hernan fell to me at 15 yards out and I wriggled past Ariel and Martin to tap it through. The goal galvanized the team and Hernan went goal crazy after that, scoring a hat trick before Horsegate responded with one of their own. Joe did a great job of keeping Sloan out of the game and was a major attacking asset in the number 1 position. The game ended 6-3 and we play the final.

A note about the final: it’s going to be a very odd game just because I face my old team, Wilderness Ranch… I played for Wilderness for 3 seasons and have great memories with the team, winning 3 tournaments during my time there. However, because Ray Stainback and Chad Bowman went up in handicap, I could not stay on the team and my position went to Kendall Planck. 

It’s been an emotional week for me and it is going to be an emotional reunion with Wilderness but like in any sport, friendships are put aside for the time we are on the field during the final- then perhaps we may all go for lunch after.

Polo updates + Some new pics from Horses & Hats

THE PHOTOS IN THIS BLOG ARE COURTESY OF STEVEN DAVID of HOUSTON EVENT PHOTOS, LISA INGISON, REBECCA KILOUGH BOLLENBACH AND KARTIK SUBRAMANIAN

Some of you might be wondering why my Golden Goals count has not risen in the past week. It’s been a pretty bad week. Simply because there has not been any polo! The rains of Texas have been very unkind and I have not managed to train or play anything and I’ve had to resort to an activity I am not overly fond of-running- to keep fit.

In light of the fact that I have virtually nothing to post as a result, I have decided to dedicate this post to a few more Horses & Hats pictures for those who missed the event on the 9th of September!

Ameer Jumabhoy saluting to the crowd

Ameer Jumabhoy riding his horse Kiara

Ameer Jumabhoy and Libby Vincek

Dominique McGhee, Hussain Somjee and Amber

Ameer Jumabhoy and Libby Vincek- the faces of Horses & Hats

Steven David and friends

Amber and Kevin Kline

Ameer Jumabhoy getting ready to play

Ameer Jumabhoy and Amber

Dominique McGhee, Houston’s Food Monster

Adriana Bolivar and Ameer Jumabhoy on the new Bentley Continental V8

Ameer Jumabhoy, La Sarita Polo Team

Ameer Jumabhoy, host of the 2012 Horses & Hats polo charity benefit for Snowdrop Foundation

Horses & Hats 2012

6 months…

A dream realized…

Yesterday, on the 9th of September, I, together with 93Q radio DJ Kevin Kline, hosted the inaugural Bentley Charity Cup in benefit of Snowdrop Foundation which aims to give academic scholarships towards current and former cancer patients. The event was principally hosted by Bentley Houston and supported by the Landry’s group.

My La Sarita team ran out 6-4 winners against the Snowdrop Foundation team. Here were the line ups:

La Sarita

Joe Chandler -1

Ameer Jumabhoy 1

Remy Muller 1

Hernan Tejera 3

 

Snowdrop Foundation

John Tasdemir -1

Paige Flanders 0

Kristy Outhier 2

Bryan Middleton 3

 

I managed to score one goal that will count towards the Golden Goals project. I’d like some pictures to do the talking instead of me writing a super long post!

Let me know what u think!

With Kevin Kline

Ameer Jumabhoy and Adriana Bolivar with the Bentley Continental

Asad Jumabhoy with the Bentley Continental V8

Ameer Jumabhoy and Adriana Bolivar unveiling the Bentley V8

Ameer Jumabhoy and Adriana Bolivar in the polo parade

Ameer Jumabhoy giving an interview to KHOU TV

Ameer and Asad Jumabhoy with friends

Ameer Jumabhoy getting ready to lead La Sarita

Ameer Jumabhoy and Adriana Bolivar- Gardner Landry Ambassadors

Sunset shot in Gardner Landry, Ameer Jumabhoy & Adriana Bolivar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’M BACK!

Hey everyone! I’m so sorry I haven’t updated the blog in such a long time. However, imagine my surprise to see that in my absence, I’ve had so many new hits and am now at 11K hits in total! Thanks for the great support you guys!

Over the past month and a bit, polo has taken a bit of a backseat because of an internship I am doing. However, now that I’m getting ready to go back to Houston, it’s back to polo- full time!

In the last month and a bit, I’ve won two tournaments and scored 9 goals between the two. My goal conversion rate has certainly improved versus last year despite having played the same number of games and I think that I am well on the way to beating 108 goals scored for charity last year. It’s the end of August and I’m on 66 with a whole Fall polo season in Houston, a polo tournament and charity game in Lahore, Pakistan as well as the Patiala Cup in Argentina in December. There’s gonna be a lot of media, a lot of updates and a lot of cool things for you guys to read about as we enter the second half of the year properly.

The first tournament I played was last weekend and it was pretty much a family team as I played with my dad, my cousin Imran and two club members Vinod/Gerry who were alternating. Dad really held the team together till the end and scored a truckload of goals (usually my job!) as we won 9-8.5 to secure the Royal Artillery Cup.

Just yesterday, however, dad and I were put on opposite teams and this time, it was my turn to lead the goal charge with 7 goals as my red team registered a big 13-10.5 win. Here are some pics from the prize giving ceremonies for the two games. I’m also putting in a full link to my Bernama Today interview in case you missed it.

It feels good to be back in the saddle! Xx

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs1fqz_ameer-jumabhoy-on-bernama-today_sport?search_algo=1

 

Malaysian TV Interview- Bernama Today

 

Victors of Golden Goals Cup

Wow! It’s been a crazy past month!

Sorry that I haven’t written at all but to be honest, I have been unbelievably busy and have really struggled with my hectic schedule. Between training every day, media commitments and polo games, I have not had a single minute to relax and when I have, I’ve spent most of my relaxation time in the pool or with friends!

To sum up, the 14 goal didn’t go so well for us this year; I think I had an okay season, playing my best games at the end of the season and really stepping up to the plate. My best friend Dominique was in Singapore and he came to all my polo games with me. The goals I scored in this season was a lot less than usual but that is also because I played one less tournament.

I appeared on LIVE 938FM for an interview on ‘The Living Room’ with Justine Moss and Keith de Souza. It was my first live interview and I believe that it went pretty well. Hopefully I can put something up on my Facebook page with an interview excerpt soon enough.

In Malaysia, I was also on Bernama Today, a morning talk show where I spoke about polo and this years edition of the Golden Goals Charity Cup which would be once again a young vs old affair but the teams were rejigged to make it more even.

The main event for the summer so far assays certainly the Charity Cup which this year, went to benefit the Tengku Azizah Fertility Foundation (TAFF) as well as the Breast Cancer Welfare Association of Malaysia. The Cup was held in conjunction with the Women’s International this year and I was proud to host the event with my friend, HRH Tengku Amir Ibrahim. This year, we had Jaeger Le Coultre and Harpers BAZAAR as sponsors which certainly added a lot more spice to the weekend!

This year, over RM 60,000 was raised for these two charities, a 13 fold increase over last years’ donations. It was very heartening for me to reveal the final figures because it shows that my vision for changing the perception of the sport of polo is working and that more people are coming together to raise funds for a good cause.

The game itself was a spectacle, with the Turks finally beating the Rebels to emerge victorious with a 6-5 win. I scored the opening goal and the winner at the end, a scorching angled drive from about 80 yards out. I had a great time and I’m sure everyone else did too. Here are some pictures form the past month!