True to expectations, the home teams soared above the rest at the Lagos International Polo Tournament, which galloped to a thrilling end at the weekend at the foremost Ribadu Road Polo Theatre in Ikoyi.

Lagos STL led the hosts’ dominance with a commanding performance, delivering three major prizes and crowning their impressive outing with the event’s biggest title, the Majekodunmi Cup.  

The Seyi Tinubu-led champions, fortified with foreign professionals, carted home three major titles and added the oldest polo title in the country, the Independence Cup, for effect.

STL opened their campaign with Adedapo Ojora Cup victory, Argentine Ambassador’s Cup, Owen Cup, picked the Chapel Hill Denham Open Cup Runners-up title in the opening week, before moving to higher gears, storming past two arch rivals to win the double, Majekodunmi and the Independence Cup respectively.

The Lagos Art Hotel team followed through with the Open Cup, while Lagos Shoreline/A1 won the Oba of Lagos Cup, finished second in the Majekodunmi and Independence Cups, to put home-based teams firmly in the driving seat of the international polo fiesta held over three weeks.

The Lagos show continued in the second week with MRS taking home the Cancer Awareness Bowl, Lagos Volta defeated local rivals, Lagos Ibah 18- 13 on penalty to clinch the Heritage Cup, just as Lagos MSD/ BabyBear completed the routes with the Low Cup victory in the last game of the prestigious grand slam.

But it was not an all-Lagos affair as teams from Kano and Port Harcourt also made the podium.

Kano Alchemy defeated Lagos MSR 7=61/2 in a tense Silver Cup final, just as Port Harcourt YBL emerged champions in the highly revered Governor’s Cup.

An impressive 27 teams from all the major polo centres in the country, parading skilful Nigerian players and foreigners from Europe, South Africa and Argentina, rumbled for glittering polo laurels in the oldest and the most glamorous polo festival in Nigeria, dating back to the early 1900s.

Speaking at the end of the games, the President of Lagos Polo Club, Adeyemo Alakija, expressed his joy at the impressive runs of Lagos throughout the event, congratulating the winners and runners-up for their efforts.

He urged others who could not make it to the podium to work harder ahead of the 2027 edition of the fiesta.