LAHORE: DS Polo and Master Paints (MP) emerged victorious in the opening day matches of the Jinnah Gold Polo Cup 2023 sponsored by Al Rehman Developers and Town Planners here at the Jinnah Polo Fields on Tuesday.
Bautista Garcia guided DS Polo to a thrilling 8-7½ triumph over Diamond Paints in the first match of the day. DS Polo were 5-7½ down when they made a tremendous comeback in the last one and a half minute by thrashing in three back-to-back goals to snatch victory from Diamond Pants.
Bautista Garcia emerged as hero of the match with a convincing contribution of five fabulous goals while displaying high-quality polo and mallet skills. He was ably assisted by another top performer of the day Javier Guerrero, who hammered three tremendous goals including two dying moments’ match-winning goals, that steered DS Polo to a well-deserving 8-7½ victory. From Diamond Paints, which had a half goal handicap advantage, Chulo Corti fired in four fantastic goals while Nico Roberts hammered a hattrick.
Both the sides started the match well and converted two goals each to finish the first chukker at 2-2. DS Polo played better polo in the second chukker as they slammed in two goals against one goal by Diamond Paints to take a slight 4-3 lead. The third chukker was fully dominated by Diamond Paints as they hammered a hat-trick of goals to gain a 6-4 lead.
DS Polo started the fourth and decisive chukker with an impressive goal to reduce the margin to 6-5 but Diamond Paints struck one more to stretch their lead to 7-5. In the last one and a half minute, DS Polo played outstanding polo and thrashed in three back-to-back goals to win the match by 8-7½, as Diamond Paints also had a half goal handicap advantage.
Manuel Crespo’s heroics helped Master Paints register a close 8½-7 win over Remounts in the second match of the day. Manuel Crespo, the hero of the day from Master Paints, did magic with mallet and polo pony and pumped in splendid five goals. Pelagio Balazaldi, Agha Musa Ali Khan and Sufi Muhammad Haroon also played well and contributed with one goal each. For team Remounts, the major contribution came from Manuel Sundblad, who slammed in four goals while Jota Chavanne banged in a brace and Imran Shahid converted one goal.
The first chukker saw both the sides scoring two goals each to level the score at 2-2. Master Paints played well in the second chukker by converting two goals against one by Remounts to earn a slight 4-3 lead. Remounts started the highly-charged third chukker with two back-to-back goals to take 5-4 lead but Master Paints then started playing aggressive polo and succeeded in cracking a classic quartet to gain a healthy 8-5 lead.
Remounts, which had a half goal handicap advantage, though dominated the fourth and last chukker by banging in a brace yet they lost the opening day match by a close margin of 7½-8. John Fisher and Chris Hyde supervised both the matches as field umpires. Two important matches of the prestigious tournament will be played tomorrow (Wednesday).
