TO THE FORE: Lucy Taylor had an outstanding tournament despite ending on the losing team. Here she puts Alex Cole under pressure. (Pictures by Clifton Henry)

by CLIFTON HENRY

IN A SCENARIO familiar to the current West Indies cricket team, the Diamonds International Piaget ladies polo team found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of possible victory in their final match-up against the Digicel men at the polo grounds at Holders Hill, St James, last Sunday.

The annual tournament was again sponsored by Diamonds International in conjunction with Fairmont Royal Pavilion, Select Rentals and Digicel, and was billed as the "Battle Of The Sexes" Polo Tournament.

Having already lost the four-part series by three games to nil, the ladies went into the final game much more focused and determined to avoid the proverbial whitewash.

Continuing her fine run of form from the start of the tournament, Britain's Lucy Taylor opened the scoring early in the game and the women held their lead at the end of the first chukka.

This brought the record crowd to its feet in jubilation. However, two minutes into the second chukka Philip Tempro equalised.

Tamara Vesty, also of Britain, quickly sent the ladies back into the lead with a fine strike from about 30 yards out to open her account.

But the men came storming back in the third chukka and Roddy "The Big Dog" Davis levelled the score with his only goal of the match.

Vesty struck again to send the women ahead 3-2, sparking more jubilation from the many women in the stands who came out in large numbers to support their own.

Their celebration was short-lived, however, as Tempro soon found the goalbars twice in quick succession to record a hat-trick.

But a determined Taylor would have none of this and soon equalised for the women with less than a minute left in the game. Once more the stands and grounds erupted in excitement, as the women were fighting the men down to the wire.

What transpired next left even the horses of the Piaget women looking dejected.

With less than five seconds to go for the final whistle, Louis Venieza collected a ball which was overrun by one of the women and tapped it between the goal-post. The Digicel Men therefore had the last word, winning 5-4.