The rise of women's polo in Argentina

By: Maribel Estefanell Posted: 01/07/2022

It is undeniably true that one of the greatest achievements of women is greater gender equality in equestrian sport.

Traditionally men have always dominated sport, but in recent years women’s participation in equestrian sport has had a sizable growth.

The increase in the number of women who play polo is due to several factors, among which we can mention: the creation of new associations, clubs and tournaments specializing in women's polo.

In the case of Argentina, it is considered one of the pioneers of this sport.

Argentina developed specific rules for women's polo. It also created a handicap system exclusively for women’s tournaments to avoid comparison with the men’s system.

Argentina became the first country to provide a handicap exclusively for women.

Why is Polo so important in Argentina?

If we focus on men's polo, we could say that the key to the superiority of Argentine polo has to do with two significant factors:

• The skill of the riders
• The quality of the horses

For decades, we have exported great polo players with the highest handicap: Adolfo Cambiasso, Juan Martín Nero, Gonzalo Pieres, Hilaro Ullora, Nicolás Pieres, David Stirling and Pablo Mac Donough, among others.

The excellent quality of the horses results from a carefully controlled breeding and training, which combine the speed of the purebred with the robustness of the “criollo” horse.

Today the Argentine Polo horse is a cross between the "mestizo" ranch horse and the pure-blood horse.

This breeding process is done under strict control and careful selection, which gives rise to an incredibly valuable breed of highly skilled horses that are unique to the rest of the world.

The evolution of women's polo in Argentina

The first game of women's polo was played in Argentina in 1927, at the Pingüinos Club (Merlo, Buenos Aires), where the two teams playing were Las Pingüinas and Estancia La Josefina.

However, the first game to appear on the cover of a newspaper (La Razón) was played in 1938 at the Tortugas Club, between the teams of Las Gacelas and Las Panteras.

In 1999 the first women's final was played in Palermo and the two teams competing were EF and Apartur.

The first official women’s world tournament was played in 2010, where a total of 11 teams participated. It was organized by the Asociación Argentina de Polo (AAP).

Argentina hosts the first women's Polo World Cup

At this point, it was clear that women's polo deserved a World Cup.

And so it was. On April 9, 2022, the first Women's Polo World Championship was held at the Campo Argentino de Polo in Palermo – the mecca of polo – in the Province of Buenos Aires.

There were six teams, from Argentina, Ireland, Italy, the United States, Brazil and England.

Of these countries, two of them were the favourites to win: the United States and England, where women's polo is very popular.

In the tournament, there were two groups of 3 teams each that faced the American (all against all). On the 14th, it was the turn of the crossed semi-finals between the first two of both groups, while on Saturday the 16th the grand final was played.

The Argentine team consisted of Agustina Imaz (4), Azucena Uranga (5), Catalina Lavinia (6) and Paulina Vasquetto (1).

After winning the semi-finals and qualifying for the definition, Argentina managed to reach the final against the United States.

The final was watched by a crowd of about 6000 people.

The Argentine group led by Milo Fernández Araujo beat the United States 6-2 in the final.

In this way, Argentina’s women's polo team won thefirst women's polo World Cup title organized by the International Polo Federation.

The players of the Argentine Team

These are the true protagonists of this historic match:

Agustina Imaz:

She is a very dangerous and effective offensive player. Born in Olavarría, she now lives in Pilar and studies Veterinary Medicine. She is 19 years old.

She started playing polo when she was a child. Her father was the one who instilled the love of this sport in her.

Cata Lavinia:

At only 16 years old, she is the youngest member of the Argentine team. Born in Buenos Aires, she is considered the "brain" of the team and, in the final, she scored a total of ten goals.

Her parents are also polo players and they instilled this passion in her.

Paulina Vasquetto:

Born in Adelia María, Cordoba, Paulina is a 17-year-old high school student.

Since polo is not very popular in her hometown, she needs to move around and visit the nearest clubs to train. It was also her father who initiated her into this sport.

Azucena Uranga:

Born in Buenos Aires, she started playing polo with her cousins when she was only 6 years old. Now that she’s 20, Azucena represents the third generation of a family that is closely linked to Polo.

Her father, Delfín Uranga, is the current president of the Argentine Polo Association (AAP) and her grandfather was the founder of the International Polo Federation.

Besides these four players, the team also included Luisa del Carril, Fátima Balzano, Jazmín Dupont and Malena Martínez. They played against Great Britain, the toughest opponent they had to face, drawing 3-3 and losing on penalties, although they were already qualified.

The future expectations of Argentina’s women's polo

Polo is part of Argentina’s culture, a lifestyle that is intimately connected with the Pampas and gaucho traditions, values and folklore.

This sport is gathering more followers every day and it attracts new audiences all over the world in both men's and women's tournaments.

Polo season in Argentina runs from October to early December, and the most important tournaments take place in Buenos Aires.

The calendar of women's polo competitions in Argentina keeps growing every year.

Nowadays, the most important competitions are: the Miriam Heguy Cup, the Argentine Open and the Women's Circuit Championship.

In short, we can expect great women's polo championships in the near future in Argentina, with a group of players who already stand out internationally.

If you want to learn more about Polo, don’t miss our post where you can find everything you need to know about this equestrian sport.

/ Photos: Asociación Argentina de Polo (AAP) /

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