LAHORE -Diamond Paints/FG Polo set Total Nutrition Polo Cup final clash against Newage Cables after routing AOS team by 9-5½ in the second semifinal played here at the Lahore Polo Club ground on Friday.
Tom Brodie and Saqib Khan Khakwani were the heroes of the day for Diamond Paints/FG Polo as both displayed high-quality polo skills and stick work and hammered a hat-trick each while their teammates Mian Abbas Mukhtar and Mir Shoaib Ahmed contributed with two and one respectively. Guy Gibrat though excelled from the losing side, which had one and a half goal handicap advantage, with tremendous three goals and he was ably assisted by Ahmed Butt struck, who struck one goal, yet their efforts couldn’t bore fruit for their side, which lost the crucial encounter by 5½-9.
AOS were off to a good start as in the very beginning, they took control and succeeded in firing in a fantastic field goal to gain 1-0 lead. This was all that they could get from the first chukker, which saw Diamond Paints/FG Polo making a strong comeback and thrashing two back-to-back goals snatch 2-1 lead. They continued their good show in the second chukker as well and smashed in three more goals to take the tally to 5-1, which AOS could score just one goal to make it 5-2.
Diamond Paints/FG Polo maintained their supremacy in the third chukker as well as successfully converted two more goals to enjoy a healthy 7-2 lead. In the highly-charged action-packed fourth and last chukker, superb polo was on offer to see as both the sides were in sublime form and trying their best to match fire-with-fire. Both the teams played equally well and slammed in two goals each, but Diamond Paints/FG Polo still had upper hand as they were enjoying 9-4 lead. With one and a half goal handicap advantage for AOS team, Diamond Paints/FG Polo won the second semifinal by 9-5½.
The exciting match was supervised by Amirreza Behboudi and Bilal Haye and was witnessed and enjoyed by Lahore Polo Club President Omer Sadik, excecutive committee members Agha Murtaza, Shah Qubilai Alam, Feroz Gulzar, Saqib Khan Khakwani, Agha Najeeb Raza, Secretary Lt Col (r) Mudassar Sharif, players, their families and polo enthusiasts.