LAHORE – Newage Cables/Master Paints, Barry’s and FG Polo carved out contrasting victories in the 1st President of Pakistan National Open Polo Championship 2022 sponsored by MidCity here at the Jinnah Polo Fields on Sunday.
The first match of the jam-packed day was contested between Newage Cables/Master Paints and both the sides played outstanding polo against each other and matched fire-with-fire till the end but in the end, Newage Cables/Master Paints held their nerves and won the royal battle by a narrow margin of 7-6.
Gonzalo Deltour did the magic with his mallet and polo pony and remained instrumental in his team’s triumph. He fired in fabulous four goals for the winning team while his teammates Vieri Antonori banged in a beautiful brace and Raja Temur Nadeem struck one goal. For team Remounts, the major contribution came from their two top foreign players – Simon Prado and Nico Roberts – as both slammed in two goals each while Mumtaz Abbas Niazi and Imran Shahid converted one goal each but their efforts couldn’t bear fruit for their side.
The second match of the day proved a one-sided affair as Barry’s proved too hot for BN Polo Team and outclassed them in every department of the game and won the crucial encounter by a huge margin of 10-3.
Hamza Mawaz Khan shone for Barry’s by displaying outstanding polo skills and techniques and emerged as top contributor by firing in five fantastic goals. His teammates Ernesto Oscar Trotz and Haracio Carlos also played superb polo and thrashed in three and two goals respectively. On the other hand, Amirreza Behboudi converted two goals and Julio Astrada one for the BN Polo Team.
The third match of the day saw FG Polo registering a comfortable 9-4 triumph over HN Polo. Juan Ambroggio was the man, whose heroics helped FG Polo score such an easy win as he contributed with three tremendous goals while Ramiro Zavaleta, Waqas Khan and Mian Abbas Mukhtar pumped in two beautiful goals each. For HN Polo, Tito Ruiz Ganizu (with 3 goals) and Hilario Ruiz Ginazu (with 1 goals) tried hard to help their side win but their efforts couldn’t bear fruit and they lost the match by 4-9.
The interesting and challenging matches were witnessed and enjoyed by Jinnah Polo Fields President Lt Col (R) Shoaib Aftab, Secretary Baber Mehboob Awan, players and their families and a great number of polo lovers. On Monday, three important league matches will be contested and after that, the quarterfinalists will be decided.