JEDDAH, 11 February 2005 — GCC Polo team will take on the Prince of Wales team at the 9th Annual GCC Polo Cup 2005 being held in Britain later this year.
Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, is leading his team in this year’s event, scheduled at the prestigious Guards Polo Club at Windsor Great Park on June 25. “It’s an equestrian event organized by the BMG Foundation to support a number of Middle Eastern and British charitable organizations,” Basil M. Al-Ghalayini, chairman of the foundation’s organizing committee and president of BMG Financial Advisers told a press conference here yesterday.
Polo is a game played on horseback by two teams of four players each. Each team attempts to drive a small wooden ball through the opponents’ goal with a mallet having a long, flexible handle.
The annual event is organized by inviting the private sector to cosponsor it, he said,, adding that it bridges the cultural and social ties between the Arab world and the UK. The GCC’s four-member team will include one each from the Kingdom, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain. Sheikh Mohammed Al-Hamrani, chairman of the Al-Hamrani Group, Ali Al-Bawardi of Dubai, Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabiare among regular players in the Arab world and feature in the event held annually. The Prince of Wales team includes the prince himself and his elder son Prince William. His younger son Prince Harry also plays polo.
Dubai has the largest polo facility in the Middle East. This is among the three facilities in the region, the others being in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, said Ghalayini who owns and rides horses.
“The BMG Foundation has a long tradition of charitable support and active community involvement. These donations reflect the Foundation’s mission — to support humanitarian and philanthropic activities thereby strengthening the cultural, social and sporting links existing between the UK and the Arab world and developing new and existing ties between business leaders,” he added.
Year after year, this exclusive event draws a huge crowd ranking among the “Who’s who” of the UK and the Middle East and raising more than SR6 million all through the years for various charities including the Disabled Children’s Association of Saudi Arabia, the Graham Layton trust in Pakistan, the Kidney Research Center in the Kingdom, the Prince’s Trust, the St. Luke’s Hospice Plymouth, the Joseph Weld Hospice, the CAABU and the Friends of the Disabled Association in Lebanon.
The BMG Foundation is the social responsible arm of BMG Financial Advisors. Aside from BMG Financial Advisors, other companies have sponsored this event’s mission in the past including Kingdom Holding Company, Al-Hamrani Group of Companies, which has been a regular and lead sponsor with Sheikh Al-Hamrani captaining the GCC team in several matches, Med-Gulf, NCB and Al Faisaliyah.
