Polo & More, Singapore 2017 Polo & More, Singapore 2017 | Page 50
Off to the races; Ali Reda
Gary Tiernan intently marking Sarah Wiseman Melissa Tiernan reaching for a near-side shot with Anna Lowndes in support
shows, a bestselling album by the rapper Ludacris, and of course in this day
and age even an app.
In sport, the tennis player Bobby Riggs opined that the female game was
inferior and even at 55 he could beat any of the top female players. When
Bobby Riggs threw down the gauntlet in 1973 taunting female tennis players
to take him on on the court, it seemed that his first round win in 2 sets over
Margaret Court who at the time was the best female player in the world and
30 years his junior, seemed to validate his theory. However, the tenacious
and talented Billie-Jean King destroyed him in a 3 set thriller in front of an
audience of 30,000+ in the Houston Astrodome and 90 million worldwide –
as the much hyped game was internationally televised.
The sport of Polo which for many years was very much the domain of
men, to the point that the first female member of the USPA Sue Sally Hale
played as man for 12 years as the USPA would not grant her membership until 1972 despite the fact that she played better polo than some of her
male counterparts. Even though Women polo players are very much an
important part of the landscape these days, to the point that there is even
now a women’s handicap there is still a gross imbalance at the higher levels
of the sport. So, whilst “Battle of the Sexes” matches are commonplace all
around the world, the men are some-times still reluctant participants for
fear of appearing ungallant if they beat the ladies, or inadequate if they get
beaten by them…. the ladies however have no such fear in showing up their
male counterparts... and so it was one Sunday afternoon in Singapore.
Initially as always there was reluctance from some men to participate
in this game. However, putting egos aside, a highly competitive and
zealous team in the shape of Ali Reda, Vinod Kumar, Gary Tiernan and the
young Giles Twiss put themselves forward for the challenge. And it was no
messing around from the men from the get go, as they realized that their
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