LAHORE – PBG Risala and BN Polo Team qualified for the main final of the Pace Punjab Polo Cup after beating their respective opponents in the semifinals played here at the Lahore Polo Club ground on Friday.
In the first semifinal of the day, PBG Risala defeated Pebble Breaker by 7-6. From PBG Risala, Nicholas A Recaite fired in fantastic four goals while Captain Humair Ghazi banged in a brace a d Hamza Mawaz Khan struck one goal. PBG captain also remained instrumental throughout the match and provided very useful passes to his teammates, which were converted successfully by them. From Pebble Breaker, phenomenal Juan Cruz Losada smashed in superb six goals but his efforts were futile in the end as his side has to face 6-7 defeat.
Nicholas A Recaite opened the PBG account by converting a 40-yard penalty to provide his side 1-0 lead while Pebble Breaker bounced back in great style and hammered a hat-trick of goals to gain 3-1 lead. Pebble Breaker continued their good show in second chukker as they fired in one more goal to enhance their lead to 4-1. PBG then played out their best game and thrashed in three back-to-back goals to square the things at 4-all. The third chukker saw both the teams matching fire-with-fire and scoring one goal after another as the score was 6-all and at this crucial stage, Humair Ghazi smashed in the match-winning goal to win the encounter 7-6, as no further goal was scored in the remaining third and fourth chukkers.
The second semifinal saw Raja Mikael Sami’s four goal helping BN Polo Team thump Guard Group/Artema Medical by 9-6.5. Besides Raja Mikael’s four goals, Juan Maria Ruiz hammered a hat-trick and Baber Naseem thrashed in two goals. From Guard Group/Artema Medical, which had one and a half goal handicap advantage, Taimur Ali Malik hit s hat-trick while Raja Taimur Nadeem and George Meyrick scored one goal each.
BN Polo Team started the match with a field goal to take 1-0 lead, which couldn’t last long as Guard Group fired in a field goal to level the score at 1-all. The secon chukker was fully dominated by BN Polo Team as they cracked a quartet to have 5-1 lead. The third chukker was identical to the second one as BN Team hammered four more goals to gain a healthy 9-1 lead. Guard Group though bounced back in the fourth and last chukker by firing in fabulous four goals and reduce the margin to 9-5 but it was all that they could get from the match as they, who had one and a half goal handicap, finished the match at 9-6½.
In the third match of the day, Olympia/Technimen routed ASC Polo Team 11-7.5 to qualify for the subsidiary final against Guard Group/Artema Medical. From Olympia/Technimen, Hissam Ali Hyder malletod superb six goals while Abdul Rehman Monnoo hammered a hat-trick and Hashim Kamal Agha and Ahmad Bilal Riaz converted one goal each. From ASC Polo Team, which had a half goal handicap, Eulogio Celestino cracked a quartet while Raja Samiullah thrashed in three goals.