Polo: Gross dropped from team to Zimbabwe tournament

Kimoi Moi (right) of Signature battles for the ball with Gordy Millar (left) of Gold. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

Long-hitting Handicap 2 Tiba Gross has been dropped from the national junior team for the Zimbabwe International Championships in Harare on June 8-10.

Gross is suffering from injuries she sustained from a road accident in Lusaka, Zambia, where she is based.

“She’ll take three to four months to heal in order to be in the right shape before she can start training for any form of competition,” said Kenya Polo Association chairman Gordy Millar.

Instead, handicap 0.0 Cheza Millar has been named by the federation as Gross’ replacement.

Other members of the team, whose total handicap is eight, are captain and handicap three Archie Voorspuy, Izzy Parsons (handicap 2) and Joss Craig (handicap 1).

The quadruple participated in last weekend’s Annesley Cup Polo championships where handicap Platinum were crowned champions after amassing six points from two victories and a 3-4 loss against Signature.

The total team handicap dropped from eight to six and head coach Jonathan Stichbury is optimistic they’ll do well in Harare despite Cheza’s weaker handicap.

Gross (Tiba) is of handicap two compared to Cheza’s 0.0.

“She (Cheza) is a refined player, her low handicap notwithstanding. We are confident she’ll do well going by her last weekend’s performance in the Annesley Cup.

She is a perfect replacement for Gross as a consistent player who assisted her team (Platinum) win the Annesley Cup over the weekend,” Stichbury told Standard Sports.

Voorspuy (Archie) and Millar (Cheza) were in the Platinum team alongside Stichbury while Craig (Joss) featured for Signature, whose captain was Kimoi Moi (2.0), Geoffrey Morley (1.0) and Sasha Craig (0.0).

The team jets out for the international event on June 7.