Lagos International Polo to Gallop off Jan. 28

Draw ceremony for this year’s  2023 Lagos International Polo Tournament has taken place with 35 teams that would vie for honours in the annual event in attendance. 

The much sought after Lagos polo extravaganza is scheduled to start next week in Ikoyi, Lagos.

Three top teams were drawn for the event’s biggest prize, the Majekodunmi Cup, six teams for the Open Cup, while 13 teams each picked their slots for the campaign for the Lagos Low and Silver Cups respectively.

The ambitious teams which are fully armed with foreign professionals and fortified with thoroughbred Argentine horses are competing for honours for top laurels in subsidiary prizes like the Oba of Lagos Cup, the Governor’s Cup, Adedapo Ojora’s Cup, Sani Dangote Cup, Italian Ambassador’s Cup and Heritage Cup, among others.

For the second year in the rich history of the international festival, the glamorous event would be decided over three weeks of bumper to bumper polo actions running from Tuesdays to Sundays, with the Open Cup tussles taking the lead in the opening week.

Expectedly, Lagos Open Cup, the event’s second most wanted prize, will again provide the electricity that would thrill the grand fiesta that is revered as the biggest sporting festival in the cosmopolitan city of Lagos. Meanwhile the high stake Majekodunmi Cup promises to be an even bigger web to untangle.

A record 26 teams with enough men and horse power to successfully mount a calvary will mix it all up before any favourite emerges in the crowded Low Cup and Silver Cup respectively.

Host Lagos will be ably represented by the lords of Ribadu Road, who are the masters of the running game. But make no mistake, visiting teams demystified these dreaded Lagos legends before and they have all its takes to do it again this year.

The draw ceremony was conducted by the Polo Captain, Rotimi Makanjuola with the Nigerian Polo Association President, (NPA) Ayo Olashoju, President Lagos Polo Club, Bode Makanjuola, Tournament Manager,  Olumayowa Ogunnusi, among other top polo patrons and players in attendance.

Tournament Manager, Mayowa Ogunnisi disclosed after the draws that loads of social events have been incorporated into the programme to make the 2023 Lagos polo festival the most exciting and memorable in years.