Action in the country continues despite COVID; in this issue of CLICKPOLO ASIA we look at what's happening at Nusantara Polo Club; the latest tournaments, projects, interviews with players and its business during the pandemic
Nusantara Polo Club, the sport's home in Indonesia
“Since going public to promote the growth of the sport, we have welcomed a highly increased number of polo players and new enthusiasts”
In this special CLICKPOLO issue, in which we talk about polo in Indonesia, Nico Curto talks about the Nusantara Polo Club. It is the only place in the country that hosts polo. Curto is the club's CEO and he talked with us about how the club went through the pandemic, its tournaments and its future
"Nusantara Polo Club is the one and only polo club in Indonesia, located just 30 minutes outside Jakarta. We have more than 30 polo members, together with the national team athletes and a total of 80 horses at the club.
Since the middle of 2019, we have opened our doors to the public. Previously, the Nusantara Polo Club or NPC was a semi-private polo club. Since going public to promote the growth of the sport, we have welcomed a highly increased number of polo players and new enthusiasts. We introduce players to the sport by hosting polo clinics coached by myself and with the help of the national polo team. At the end of the clinic, we provide a certificate of accomplishment that gives players a green light to start playing chukkas at NPC.
Since COVID hit, we strictly followed regulations and have had to close down the club and stop all activities twice this year. Luckily, outdoor sports were permitted again, we were able to still hold chukkas and grow our member base. We managed to have all the employees at NPC vaccinated early this year and, together with the restrictions and social distancing, we managed to open for activities as normal, with the difference that we have a new policy of slots per day to reduce any type of risks.
In between lockdowns, we were able to host two club tournaments where selected members participated alongside the national team's players. It gave a chance for those who graduated from the instructional clinics to get quality time on the field with internationally handicapped players. The first tournament was the NPC Challenge and the second, The Nusantara Polo Cup. Both cups fielded 3 to 4 teams with round robin format. Players received prizes and MVP and BPP awards were given as well, and the cups always ended with a socially-distanced asado.
Right now we are at a phase 3 of lockdown and we strictly follow the regulations and luckily we can play games on the weekend. We have people come and practice horseback riding and polo during the week. We plan on finishing the polo season by November, although we would love to organize another tournament once a month until then, but, right now, we just can’t, and we are grateful enough that we can enjoy polo in times of COVID-19."
Champions at the Nusantara Polo Club
The Indonesian club hosted two tournaments in the last few months: the Nusantara Cup and the Nusantara Challenge.
Praderas Polo Team won both tournaments. For the Nusantara Cup, the team included Abbey Jorstad, Bas Fairfield, Camila Lastrilla and Nicolás Curto.
They managed to win the final match by 6-4, against a strong Nusantara Polo Team, which featured Novel A. Momongan, Billy Barsel, Fahmi Akmal and Rehan Mubarak.
The tournament also had Garuda Polo Team (Glendy Buyung, Agus Gombong, Rico Lianto and Acep Krisnandar) and Elang Polo Team (Raj Kannan, Aditya Hutama Putra, NAM and Iman Kusumo) participating.
Bas Fairfield was chosen as the MVP, while Malambo, played by Raj Kannan owned by NPC, was chosen as the BPP.
In the Nusantara Challenge, Praderas won the final match against Nusantara Polo Team once more, this time 7-4. The champions were Camila Lastrilla, Nadine Joaquina / Delycia, Rehan Mubarak and Nicolas Curto. Their opponents, who also won the Subsidiary Cup, were Novel Alva Momongan, Daya Zakir, Abbey Jorstad and Aditya Hutama Putra.
The same teams participated, although with different players. The others were: Garuda Polo Team (Rico Lianto, Billy Barsel, Dwira Roring and Iman Kusumo) and Elang Polo Team (Glendy Buyung, Claudio Tarore, Dani Marcel and Jordi Chrisovel).
The BPP was Pajarraco, played by Camila Lastrilla owned by NPC, and the MVP was Abbey Jorstad
