Polo girl was crushed under her horse as her parents watched

The parents of a Cambridge University graduate saw their polo-playing daughter fall to her death under her horse, an inquest heard yesterday.

Catherine Yates, 20, died in hospital six days after being thrown from her saddle in a collision with two other players.

Ian Yates, 55, was watching from the sidelines with wife Wendy, 52, when the accident happened.

'Both teams of four horses were cantering across the pitch competing for the ball,' he said.

'My daughter was in the lead and as she slowed to hit the ball there was contact between her horse and other players and her horse fell.

'My daughter came out of the saddle, forwards, and her horse rolled over her. She was unconscious on the pitch.'

Susan Collins, the timekeeper at the match at Cirencester, Gloucestershire, said: 'I heard a single scream and then there was silence.'

Miss Yates, who had graduated with a first in natural sciences from Gonville and Caius College, was only the second person to die playing polo in this country since the Second World War.

She was the treasurer of the university polo club, whose president is the Prince of Wales, and had been due to start a post-graduate course at Cambridge.

She was playing Pony Club polo, a junior version of the sport, when the accident happened in August 2006.

Ian McKelvie, vice president of the New Zealand Polo Association, also saw the incident.

In a statement he said Miss Yates passed the ball but then turned 'into the line of play', rather than out of play 'as a more experienced player may have done'.

She collided with two players, one from each team, who were 'following fast down the line of play' and the horse rolled over, landing on top of her.

Mr McKelvie said: 'I suspect it is an accident that is more likely to occur with less experienced players. However, there is always a risk with horses and the sport.'

Miss Yates, from Pershore, Worcestershire, was wearing a helmet during the game for North Cotswolds against the Northern Ireland polo team.

She was airlifted unconscious to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.

The inquest at Flax Bourton heard how she had died from a combination of severe brain injuries and Propofol Infusion Syndrome, a rare reaction to the anaesthetic Propofol.

Her father, who gave his account of the tragic day in a statement, also submitted a letter asking if there were any 'lessons that could be learnt' from her course of treatment.

But neurosurgeons Dr Nitin Patel and Professor Seth Love told the inquest Miss Yates would not have recovered full brain function if the syndrome had not occurred and she survived her injuries.

Recording a verdict of misadventure, Avon deputy coroner Brian Whitehouse said polo, like some other sports, was 'hard and fast and potentially dangerous' and no criticism could be levelled at anyone over the death.