By Sohail Ali
LAHORE, Feb 11 (APP): Remounts qualified for the main final and Colony Polo Team for subsidiary final of the Pantera Energy Aibak Polo Cup after winning their respective matches played here at Lahore Polo Club ground on Thursday.
Ignacio Negri’s fabulous four goals guided Remounts to 6-5 nail-biting triumph over Master Paints Black by 6-5, which helped the winning side make way to the main final.
Imran Shahid was the other key contributor from the winning side with a contribution of two brilliant goals. Master Paints Black’s major contributions came from Mariano Raigal and Ahmed Ali Tiwana, who converted a brace each while Matias Vial Parez struck one.
The high-voltage first chukker saw both the sides matching fire-with-fire and converting the goals one after another and it was 2-all, when in the dying moments of the chukker, Master Paints Black fired in a field goal to gain a slight 3-2 lead. The second chukker was evenly poised as both the sides struck one goal each with Master Paints Black still enjoying 4-3 lead.
The only goal of the third chukker was converted by Remounts, which helped them level the score at 4-all. In the fourth chukker, both the teams played well and converted one goal each to make it 5-all. No further goal was scored and the match was then decided in the sudden death (fifth) chukker, where Ignacio Negri malleted the match-winning goal to steer his side to well-deserving 6-5 triumph.
The first match of the day also proved to be a thrilling encounter, where Colony Polo Team defeated Diamond Paints by narrow margin of 8-7. Francisco Bensadon and Jamie Le Hardy emerged as top scorer by converting a hat-trick each while Naveed Sheikh and Mian Abbas Mukhtar scored one goal apiece. From Diamond Paints, which had two goals handicap advantage, Mir Huzaifa Ahmed converted a brace while Ramiro Zaveletta, Saqib Khan Khakwani and Abdul Rehman Monnoo struck one goal apiece.
Colony Polo Team were off the flying start as they thrashed in three back-to-back goals to gain 3-0 lead. Diamond Paints struck one just before the end of the first chukker to make it 3-1. Colony Polo continued their good show in the second chukker where they added two more goals in their tally against one by Diamond Paints to make it 5-2.
The third chukker was evenly poised as both the sides scored one goal each to make it 6-3 while they converted two each in the fourth chukker to finish the match at 8-5. With two goals handicap advantage for Diamond Paints, the final score was 8-7 in favour of Colony Polo.
Tomorrow (Friday), DS Polo/ASC will take on Barry’s at 2:00 pm while BN Polo will vie against Master Paints at 3:00 pm.
