LAHORE, 14 March (BelTA - Associated Press of Pakistan). - Newage Cables/Master Paints, Barry's and FG Polo carved out contrasting victories in the 1st President of Pakistan National Open Polo Championship 2022 sponsored by MidCity here at the Jinnah Polo Fields on Sunday.
The first match of the jam-packed day was contested between Newage Cables/Master Paints and both the sides played outstanding polo against each other and matched fire-with-fire till the end but in the end, Newage Cables/Master Paints held their nerves and won the royal battle by a narrow margin of 7-6.
Gonzalo Deltour did the magic with his mallet and polo pony and remained instrumental in his team's triumph. He fired in fabulous four goals for the winning team while his teammates Vieri Antonori banged in a beautiful brace and Raja Temur Nadeem struck one goal. For team Remounts, the major contribution came from their two top foreign players – Simon Prado and Nico Roberts – as both slammed in two goals each while Mumtaz Abbas Niazi and Imran Shahid converted one goal each but their efforts couldn't bear fruit for their side.
Remounts started well by banging in a brace but Newage Cables/Master Paints bounced back well and hammered a hat-trick to earn a slight 3-2 lead before the end of the first chukker. Newage added one more in their tally in the beginning of the second chukker to make it 4-2 but Remounts then made a good comeback to level the score at 4-4. The third and fourth chukker saw Newage scoring one goal each to have 6-4 lead but in the fifth and last chukker, Remounts reduce the margin to 6-5 followed by one from Newage, making it 7-5 and once again Remount converting one more, making it 6-7, thus Newage emerged as victorious by 7-6.
The second match of the day proved a one-sided affair as Barry's proved too hot for BN Polo Team and outclassed them in every department of the game and won the crucial encounter by a huge margin of 10-3.
Hamza Mawaz Khan shone for Barry's by displaying outstanding polo skills and techniques and emerged as top contributor by firing in five fantastic goals. His teammates Ernesto Oscar Trotz and Haracio Carlos also played superb polo and thrashed in three and two goals respectively.
On the other hand, Amirreza Behboudi converted two goals and Julio Astrada one for the BN Polo Team.
Barry's were off to a flying start as they fired in four goals in the first chukker to have a healthy 4-0 lead. The second chukker was evenly poised as both the teams scored one goal each, making it 5-1. Barry's played better polo in the third chukker by converting two against one goal by BN Polo to enhance their lead to 7-2.
Barry's banged in a brace in the fourth chukker to get a 9-2 lead while one goal each was converted in the fifth and last chukker, with Barry's winning the match by 10-3.
The third match of the day saw FG Polo registering a comfortable 9-4 triumph over HN Polo. Juan Ambroggio was the man, whose heroics helped FG Polo score such an easy win as he contributed with three tremendous goals while Ramiro Zavaleta, Waqas Khan and Mian Abbas Mukhtar pumped in two beautiful goals each. For HN Polo, Tito Ruiz Ganizu (with 3 goals) and Hilario Ruiz Ginazu (with 1 goals) tried hard to help their side win but their efforts couldn't bear fruit and they lost the match by 4-9.
The first chukker was evenly poised as both the sides struck one apiece to make it 1-1 yet FG Polo made a good comeback and hammered a hat-trick to gain a healthy 4-1 lead.
HN played better polo in the third and fourth chukkers as they banged in two goals against one in the third chukker chukker to reduce the margin to 3-5 and then converted the only goal of the fourth chukker to make it 4-5. FG Polo finished the match in great style by cracking a quartet to win the encounter by 9-4.
The interesting and challenging matches were witnessed and enjoyed by Jinnah Polo Fields President Lt Col (R) Shoaib Aftab, Secretary Baber Mehboob Awan, players and their families and a great number of polo lovers. Tomorrow Monday, three important league matches will be contested and after that, the quarter finalists will be decided.
