[Sport] Palermo Open. La Dolfina overcame all adversities, is eighth champion and decides his future

[FNX Magokiler]

A champion to the test of everything. La Dolfina overcame all the adversities that she faced in the 2020 season and returned to consecrate herself in the most important polistic competition in the world: the Palermo Open. It was not stopped by the injuries of three of her four players at the start of the Triple Crown, nor by the lack of rhythm nor by the fact that she had "started her year" with the full line-up precisely at the Argentine Open. He comes to the end of the year as he usually does: champion.

In an intense definition, with wind gusts of more than 50 km / h, exciting even despite the different and strange setting that means playing almost without an audience in an emblematic setting such as the Campo Argentino de Palermo, La Dolfina defeated archrival Ellerstina by 10 to 8 and achieved the eighth championship: winner between 2013 and 2020 consecutively. A fantastic production of this formation integrated by Adolfo Cambiaso, David Stirling, Pablo Mac Donough and Juan Martín Nero, which began in 2011 and in ten seasons won 9 times in the traditional Open. The only final they lost was 2012, against Ellerstina. Cycle in which, in addition, they achieved the Triple Crown three times in a row, that is, the Tortugas, Hurlingham and Palermo Open (2013, 2014 and 2015).

 

 

 

The year had not started well for La Dolfina. Nero suffered a fractured left clavicle and wrist before Tortugas and underwent surgery (four operations in one year since December 2019), then Mac Donough was torn and also Stirling. Cambiaso, at the same time, had a rib fissure (all in Tortugas), while in Palermo he suffered a tear in the supraspinatus of the right shoulder. Despite everything, La Dolfina, who was a finalist in Tortugas and a semifinalist in Hurlingham, recovered, shone in the Argentine semifinal against La Natividad-Las Monjitas (21-10) and beat Ellerstina in the final.

Furthermore, the victory prevented Ellerstina from achieving the Triple Crown after ten years. It was the fourth time that Cañuelas' team thwarted Ellerstina's chance to win the top three tournaments in the same season: previously it took place in 2005, 2007 and 2009. In Palermo's final history between the two, La Dolfina stretched their lead to 10-3. And in the aggregate of games, out of 48 crosses, the Cañuelas team is ahead by 31-17.

For Cambiaso, it is the 17th title of the Palermo Open and he went on to integrate the podium of the most winners: he shares third place with Alberto Pedro Heguy. Higher up, with 19, are Horacio Antonio Heguy, and with 20, Juan Carlos Harriott (h.), All of the mythical Colonel Suárez.

As for their teammates, Mac Donough and Nero added their 11th celebration at the Polo Cathedral, while the Uruguayan Stirling celebrated for the 9th time and is increasingly becoming the most winning foreigner of the contest.

La Dolfina, created by Cambiaso in 2000, won its 14th title in Palermo as a club and reached 20 finals out of 21 appearances. It was only left out of the decisive meeting in 2004. Without a doubt, a formidable production.
Beyond the numbers and the logical celebrations, there are hours of definitions for the multi-champions of polo. At the beginning of the season, Cambiaso agreed with his teammates that 2020 would be the last season together, since his goal was