Sport

Featuring Polo’s most prolific philanthropist Nic Roldan, sits down...

We caught up with the champion polo player to discuss the highs and lows of playing polo professionally and the impact it has on family life, as well as getting Nic’s best tips for polo amateurs. Growing up on a farm with horses is what inspired Nic Roldan to get into polo, and claims that his father being a polo player isn’t the main reason he got into the sport, he always had an interest in the speed and intensity of the game along with his love for horses. Being a professional sportsman can be stressful for anyone, but ‘polo has more highs than lows’ as Nic gets to play the sport he loves and is around horses constantly, all whilst travelling the world and visiting beautiful countries. According to Nic, the lows are ‘the same as any sport, it’s a very cut throat, competitive and intense sport.’ The sport also requires a huge amount of investment in the horses which can be incredibly stressful and unlike most other sports. However ‘it is tough to say there are any other lows when you get to do what you love to do as a career, what could be better?’

Featuring America’s Cup: The latest technological boat race

In recent years, the world’s oldest and most prestigious global sailing event, America’s Cup, is as much of a technology race as it is a sailboat race. New film, “Surface to Air” looks beyond the luxurious sport and into the innovation required to build one of the fastest sailboats to ever exist. The film shows how the Altair and Artemis Racing’s technical teams have placed a great deal of emphasis on perfecting the use of the daggerboards – foils that lift the boat out of the water to break the drag barrier. Viewers are able to see how this technology has a significant impact on a boat’s performance. “Technology plays a huge part in the America’s Cup,” said Iain Percy, Team Manager and On-Water Tactician for Artemis Racing. “It’s been said the fastest boat has won the America’s Cup for the last 160 years and I’m not sure that is about to change. The daggerboard is the appendage that we fly the boat off and also transfers side force into driving force. Millimetres of difference make knots of difference so the optimal manufacturing and design of the daggerboard is absolutely critical.” The teams have focused much of their effort on optimising the strength, shapes and thicknesses, and how water and wind interact with daggerboards using a simulation-driven design approach.

Featuring Wimbledon 2017: the ones to watch

So it's time to indulge in plenty of Pimm's and strawberries and cream because Wimbledon 2017 is set to cause a racket! There is no doubt that the All England Tennis Club plays host to the most thrilling tennis event of 2017, with Andy Murray attempting to retain his title of champion. But there are over 100 Athletes that take part each year, with both the men's and women's Singles, Juniors, Seniors, Doubles and Wheelchair Tournaments as well - So we have whittled down the list so it's easier for you to pick who you want to watch out of the Men's and Women's single tournaments. The 23 year old Austrian has been declared as one 'most talented young players in the world at the moment' and is currently ranked 8th in the world, with a career-high of the 7th best in the world in 2016. After winnning over the Duchess of Cambridge on the opening day of the tournament, he revelealed that his relaxed nature was due not playing on the opening day, and starting his Wimbledon campaign on the Tuesday instead.

Featuring Oxford vs Cambridge Cancer Research UK boat race 2017

The two universities will compete to row along the London river for the 163rd time in one of British sport's most iconic events. Oxford will be out for revenge after they were edged out by the Light Blues last year - as Cambridge stretched their all-time record. But when will the action take place? And where can you watch it all unfold? Here is everything you need to know ahead of the latest instalment of the Boat Race... With all great sport it is better to see in the flesh - and as is a rarity in modern sport it is free to attend on the west London river banks. Get yourself down to Putney Bridge to see the crews set-off or just down from Chiswick Bridge for the big finale - with plenty of spots to get a view in between.

Featuring Tee Time: The Growing Popularity Of Golf In China

The Sybarites has the low-down on how and why the Chinese are going golf crazy. China may be famous for blockbuster sights such as the Summer Palace, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square and Terracotta warriors but it’s fast becoming known for its interest in golf too. Chairman Mao might have banned golf for its bourgeois decadence back in the day, but fast forward to 2017  and it’s all change. Golf is no longer considered a crime in China and consequently the country has seen its golfing enthusiasts swell from around 50,000 only a few years ago, to more than three million today. The rise of the sport in China can partly be attributed to the International Olympic Committee’s decision to reinstate golf for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games - a sporting event that China is famously keen on.After the Sydney 2000 Olympics, China’s sporting big wigs launched  Project 119 – a campaign focused on training athletes in individual sports (such as kayaking and canoeing),  in which the Chinese have traditionally underperformed.

Featuring The world's most beautiful ice rinks

For others, it is the sound of carols being sung or the smell of mince pies and mulled wine wafting in the air… However here at Sybarite HQ, it’s getting our skates on at an outdoor ice rink that signals Christmas is just around the corner. There is nothing quite like the allure of ice skating: gliding gracefully (well, some of us) around the rink in pristine, white boots (or blue plastic if you don't have your own). Where else can you fling your arms around a strange member of the opposite sex? What’s more, such behaviour is not only inevitable, it’s the norm: the accepted and established code of conduct when it comes to Christmas skating. Wondering where to find the world’s most magical ice rinks? Here’s the low-down on some of the planet’s coolest skating spots...(attractive strangers not guaranteed).

Featuring Luxurious shoot-friendly countryside stays in the UK

Where guests can savour home-grown produce, drink local ciders or fine wines and relax in utmost tranquillity. Set within the most inspiring landscapes, these inns offer a wealth of country sporting activities, all dog friendly and are situated near the UK’s leading shooting schools.

Featuring Best Clay Pigeon Shooting Schools in the UK: Top 5...

Featuring Royal Salute Coronation Cup

If you’re in need of a little inspiration, allow The Sybarite to make a suggestion…

Featuring Riding in Style: Qatar Goodwood Festival 2016

Royal Ascot may have wrapped for 2016 but the Qatar Goodwood Festival - popularly known as as Glorious Goodwood - is just around the corner.

Featuring Hot to Trot: the growing appeal of polo

The blue blooded (Princes Harry and William both play) game of polo is synonymous with glamour, luxury and wealth. The sport of kings is said to have originated in Persia some 2,500 years ago and was initially used as a training exercise for the King’s elite cavalry who then took the game to the east. Here the sport was adopted by the Kings, Emperors, Shahs, Sultans, Khans and Caliphs of the ancient Persians, Arabs, Mughals, Mongols and Chinese - hence it’s moniker “the game of kings". British officers discovered the game circa 1850 following a horsemanship exhibition in Manipur, India. Legend has it that Lieutenant Joe Sherer, after seeing the locals playing polo, cried “we must learn the game.” Subsequently The Silchar Polo Club was founded in 1859 and from there the popularity of the sport spread like morning sunlight: polo popped up in Malta in 1868, England in 1869 - where matches at Richmond Park and Hurlingham attracted more than 10,000 spectators - Ireland in 1870, Argentina in 1872 and Australia in 1874.

Featuring Wimbledon 2016: the ones to watch

As tennis Grand Slams go, Wimbledon is without a doubt the best. As the oldest tennis tournament in the world, SW19 oozes prestige, whereas Flushing Meadows is unpredictable, Melbourne Park is often unbearably hot and Roland Garos is dusty. Who will be the toast of this years’s tournament? We've identified the four hopefuls that you should be keeping an eye on this summer. Anyone for Pimms?