LAHORE, Feb 19 (APP): BN Polo and Master Paints booked berths in the main final of the Aquafina Allama Iqbal Polo Cup 2021 after winning their respective matches played here at the Jinnah Polo and Country Club (JP&CC) ground on Friday.
While FG Polo qualified for the subsidiary final. The first semifinal of the day was contested between BN Polo and Diamond Paints and after a tough fight, BN Polo emerged as winner with a margin of 10-6.
Tito Ruiz Guinazu was the top scorer from the winning side, while Eulogio Celestino converted a hat-trick, Raja Mikael Sami a brace and Baber Naseem one goal. Romero Zaveletta was top scorer from Diamond Paints as he thrashed in three goals while Saqib Khan Khakwani hit one while they had two goals handicap advantage.
BN Polo were off to flying start as they thrashed in three back-to-back goals to gain 3-0 lead. They added three more goals in their tally to enhance their lead to 6-0. Diamond Paints then made their presence felt by converting two goals to reduce the margin to 6-2 but BN Polo struck one more to make it 7-2.
The third chukker saw BN Polo slamming in three more goals to gain a healthy 10-2 lead while Diamond Paints hit one to reduce the margin to 10-3. Diamond Paints scored one more in the fourth and last chukker to make it 10-4 while with two goals handicap advantage for Diamond Paints, the final score was 10-6 in favour of BN Polo.
The second semifinal of the day proved to be a thriller, where Master Paints beat Master Paints Black by a narrow margin of 13 1/2-12. Marcos Panelo emerged as hero of the day from Master Paints, which had a half goal handicap advantage, with a classic contribution of excellent eight goals while Juan Cruz Losada fired in fabulous five goals.
Matias Vial Parez though played sterling polo for Master Paints Black and thrashed in tremendous ten goals while Mariano Raigal and Sufi Muhammad Haroon converted one each but their efforts were futile in the end.
Master Paints started well against Master Paints Black and hammered a hat-trick of goals to gain 3-0 lead but Master Paints Black bounced back well and banged in a brace to make it 3-2. They added five more goals in their tally to gain a healthy 7-3 lead while Master Paints struck two to reduce the margin to 7-5. In the third chukker, Master Paints fired in fabulous five goals against three by Master Paints Black to earn to level the score at 10-all.
In the fourth and decisive chukker, Master Paints, who had a half goal handicap advantage, successfully converted three goals against two by Master Paints Black to win the match by 13 1/2-12.
The third encounter of the day saw FG Polo outpacing Barry’s by 10 1/2-6 to make way to the subsidiary final. Mian Abbas Mukhtar was star of the day from FG Polo as he smashed in superb five goals while Francisco Bensadon fired in four goals and Jamie Le Hardy struck one. From Barry’s, Ernesto Trotz and Hamza Mawaz Khan hammered a hat-trick each.
Both the teams started the match aggressively and matched fire-with-fire till the end of the second chukker, where Barry’s were enjoying a slight 5-4 lead but FG Polo then started playing extremely well and dominated the third and fourth chukkers to win the encounter by 10 1/2-6.
