Team USPA Wins Zone “A” Playoffs, Earning a Place in FIP World Polo Championship Finals

LAKE WORTH, Fla. - Dec. 15, 2014 - PRLog -- The United States Polo Association (USPA) announced today that Team USPA, representing the United States, has won the FIP Zone “A” playoffs going 3-0 in a round robin format against the national teams of Canada, Dominican Republic, and Mexico. The matches were played at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic.   As the winner, the United States has earned the last coveted spot at the FIP World Championship Finals where they will compete against the winners of the three other FIP Zone Playoffs, Brazil, England, and Pakistan.   The finals will be played in Santiago, Chile March 24-29, 2015.

In its final match, Team USPA defeated Mexico 10-3.   In its earlier tournament matches Team USPA defeated Canada 9-4 ½ and Dominican Republic 11-5.

Representing the United States in the FIP Zone “A” Playoffs as Team USPA are: Jared Sheldon, Jesse Bray Felipe Viana, Patrick Uretz, Mason Wroe, Will Tankard, and head coach Joel Baker.

Wroe (Texas A&M), Viana (University of Virginia), Uretz (Westmont University), Sheldon (New Mexico State) and Tankard (Texas Tech) have all come up the ranks through the United States Polo Association Intercollegiate polo program, and exceled through their involvement with Team USPA.

“It has been a great pleasure working with Team USPA this past month because without question, they accepted the challenge of working for and making their teammates better players,” said Joel Baker, Coach of Team USPA.    “By working for each other, they have become a fantastic team, a team that dominated the Zone Playoffs and they did it with great sportsmanship and class.”

“On behalf of the all members of the United States Polo Association I wish to extend my heartiest congratulations to the players and coaching staff of Team USPA for their great achievement in earning a place in the finals of the FIP World Polo Championships,” said Peter Rizzo, Chief Executive Officer of the United States Polo Association.   “Our players demonstrated the highest levels of skill, horsemanship, and sportsmanship during their march to the finals, truly representing the best of American polo.    Their opportunity to win the world championship in 2015, will make the USPA’s 125^th anniversary year all the more memorable.”

About the United States Polo Association ®

The U.S. Polo Association was organized and exists for the purposes of promoting the game of polo, coordinating the activities of its Member Clubs and Registered Players, arranging and supervising polo tournaments, competitions, and games, and providing rules, handicaps, and conditions for those tournaments, competitions, and games including the safety and welfare of participants and mounts. For more information, please visit http://www.uspolo.org