Calatagan, Batangas—An unplayable field has prompted organizers to postpone two Wednesday matches in the polo competitions of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games at the Miguel Romero Polo Field in Calatagan, Batangas, for the second-straight day.
Competition manager Camila Lastrila cited the decision by officials from the Federation International Polo (FIP) to move the start of the competitions instead on Thursday after action was also postponed on Tuesday.
“We determined the field to be too wet this morning (Wednesday) and unsafe to play, basically,” Lastrila said.
“Now, the danger of having a field that is too wet is that the horses easily slip. When you have a very fast game like polo where the horses are running at full speed, stopping on a dime, twisting and turning or knocking at each other, safety is of course your number one priority as an official,” she added.
Under the new schedule, preliminary matches will be held on Thursday, Friday and Sunday with the finals set on Monday.
Lastrila disclosed that the Malaysian team has filed an appeal for the tournament to still end on Sunday despite the postponements but organizers have not decided on the matter.
However, Party-list Congressman and Team Philippines captain Representative Mikee Romero said such an appeal will not prosper, as he cited the international federation ruling that polo tournaments cannot hold three-straight playdates.
“Dinaanan tayo ng bagyo eh,” Romero said. “Ang problema, inulan tayo ng 10 oras kaya nag-soak ang lupa.”