LAHORE: Remounts and BN Polo registered contrasting victories in 2nd President of Pakistan Polo Cup 2023 matches played here at Jinnah Polo Fields on Thursday.
Manuel Sundblad steered Remounts to a convincing 10-8½ victory over HN Polo in the first match of the day. Young six-goaler Sundblad from Remounts played brilliantly and pumped in eight excellent goals while Imran Shahid and Jota Chavanne struck one goal each. For HN Polo, which had a half goal handicap advantage, six goals were converted by Santi Losa while Raja Jalal Arsalan and Haider Naseem scored one goal each.
Remounts began the match with a field goal but HN Polo bounced back well and converted two back-to-back goals to have a 2-1 lead by the end of the first chukker. The highly-charged second chukker saw both the sides playing outstanding polo and thrashed in three goals each with HN Polo still enjoying a slight 5-4 lead.
Remounts made a strong comeback in the third chukker and fully dominated it by slamming in three back-to-back goals to earn a 7-5 lead. The fourth and last chukker also proved a see-saw battle as both the teams played extremely well against each other and managed to convert three goals each, thus Remounts winning the match by 10-8½, as HN Polo had a half goal handicap advantage.
Heroics of Hamza Mawaz Khan helped BN Polo outpace Master Paints/Newage Cables by 8-4 in the second match of the day. For BN Polo, Hamza was in superb form and fired in four fabulous goals while Babar Naseem thrashed in three goals and Tito Ruiz struck one goal. For Master Paints/Newage, Simon Prada was top scorer with two goals while Juan Greguoli and Farooq Amin Sufi converted one goal each.
Master Paints/Newage Cables were off to good start as they banged in a brace to take a 2-0 lead, which couldn’t last long as BN Polo bounced back well by banging a brace as well to level the score at 2-2 just before the end of the first chukker. BN Polo played better polo in the second chukker and converted three goals against one by Master Paints/Newage to take a 5-3 lead.
The third chukker was evenly poised as both the teams converted one goal each with BN Polo still enjoying a 6-4 lead. The fourth and last chukker was dominated by BN Polo as they pumped in two back-to-back goals to stretch their lead to 8-4, which remained intact till the final bell was rung and they emerged as triumphant.
