On Tuesday, the sun shone bright with a hint of blue skies over the Lahore Polo Club ground. The bright day brought some cheer for Guard Group & Adamjee Insurance as they won opening day fixtures at Argentine Republic Polo Cup 2019.
In the foremost match of the day, Guard Group/DCC were off to flying start as they struck two field goals to take 2-0 lead. Platinum Homes then converted from 30-yards to reduce the margin to 2-1. Guard Group/DCC finished the chukker with another field goal to enhance their lead to 3-1.
The second chukker was evenly poised as both the teams struck two goals each and by the end of the chukker, Guard Group/DCC were enjoying 5-3 lead.
The third chukker was fully dominated by Guard Group/DCC as they converted two back-to-back goals to further strengthen their lead to 7-3.
The winners maintained their supremacy in the fourth and last chukker as well as they converted two more to make it 9-3 while Platinum Homes fought back well and slammed in two consecutive goals to reduce the margin to 9-5. With one and a half goal handicap for Platnium Homes, the final score was 9-6½ in favour of Guard Group/DCC.
Saqib Khan Khakwani emerged as star of the day as he slammed in a quartet while Taimur Ali Malik hammered a hat-trick and Farasat Ali Chatha banged in a brace for Guard Group. From the losing side, which had one and a half goal handicap advantage, Ahmed Nawaz Tiwana pumped in a hat-trick while Mian Hussain Iftikhar and Babar Monnoo converted one goal apiece.
In the second match of the day, Magic River had an impressive start by firing in two back-to-back goals to have 2-0 edge. In the dying moments of the first chukker, Adamjee Insurance then converted one to make it 2-1.
Adamjee Insurance bounced back well in the second chukker as they banged in a brace to take 3-2 edge.
The only goal of the third chukker came from Adamjee, which helped them stretch their lead to 4-2. Although Magic River fought back well and banged in a brace to level the score at 4-all, yet they couldn’t score more and the match finished at 4-all. The half goal handicap advantage then declared Adamjee winner of the match.
From the losing side, Ahmed Ali Tiwana hammered a hat-trick and Abdul Rehman Monnoo scored one goal.