HN Polo, Newage/MP, DP score victories in 1st President of Pakistan National Open Polo C’ship

HN Polo, Newage Cables/Master Paints and Diamond Paints Tuesday recorded victories in the 1st President of Pakistan National Open Polo Championship 2022 sponsored by Mid City at the Jinnah Polo Fields (JPF) in Lahore.

High-flying Saqib Khan Khakwani fired in fabulous four goals in HN Polo’s convincing 10-6 triumph over BN Polo Team in the first match of the second day in the National Open Polo Championship. The entire team played superb polo throughout the match and every individual played a key role in their team’s victory. Besides Saqib Khakwani’s four goals, the contribution also came from Tito Ruiz Guinazu, Hilario Ruiz Guinazu and Haider Naseem – all thrashed in two goals each. For BN Polo Team, Baber Naseem cracked a quartet while Julio Astrada and Abdul Rehman Monnoo scored one goal each.  

The first three chukkers of the match were evenly poised as both the teams displayed high-quality polo on offer and first made it 1-1 by the end of the first chukker, 2-2 by the end of the second chukker and 4-4. HN Polo then played better polo in the fourth chukker by thrashing in three goals against two by BN Polo to take a slight 7-6 lead. HN maintained their supremacy in the fifth and last chukker and added three more goals in their tally to win the match comfortably by 10-6.  

The nail-biting second encounter of the day saw Newage Cables/Master Paints beating DS Polo/Rizvi’s in the sudden death chukker by a narrow margin of 10-9. Gonzalo Deltour emerged as the hero of the day for the BN Polo Team as he malleted marvellous nine goals while the remaining one goal was converted by Vieri Antinori. For DS Polo/Rizvi’s, Max Charlton smashed in superb seven goals while Hissam Ali Hyder banged in a brace.  

Newage Cables/Master Paints opened their account with a field goal to take 1-0 lead, which couldn’t last long as DS Polo/Rizvi’s bounced back by banging in a brace to earn 2-1 lead. Newage also made a good comeback by hammering a hat-trick to get back 4-2 lead but DS Polo converted one in the dying moments of the second chukker to make it 3-4.  

DS Polo dominated the third chukker with fabulous five goals against one by Newage to gain a healthy 8-5 lead. Newage bounced back in the fourth chukker by cracking three goals against one by DS Polo to reduce the margin to 9-8. Newage also converted the only goal of the fifth chukker to finish it at 9-9. The match was then decided in the sudden death (sixth) chukker, where Deltour smashed in a match-winning goal to guide Newage Cables/Master Paints to a close 10-9 victory.  

Diamond Paints dominated the third and last match of the day by outpacing FG Polo Team with a good margin of 9-4. Max Charlton replaced injured Matias Vial Perez in the match. For Diamond Paints, Max Charlton played superb polo and fired in fabulous five goals while Guy Gibrat hammered a hat-trick and Ahmed Ali Tiwana scored one goal. For FG Polo Team, Ramiro Zavaleta banged in a brace, Juan Ambroggio and Mumtaz Abbas Niazi converted one goal apiece.  

Diamond Paints were off to a flying start as they pumped in two goals each in the first, second and third chukkers to earn a healthy 6-0 lead. Just before the end of the third chukker, FG Polo made their presence felt by scoring one to make it 1-6. Diamond Paints added two more goals in the fourth chukker to further enhance their lead to 8-1 while FG Polo struck one to make it 2-8. Diamond Paints added one more goal in their tally in the beginning of the fifth and last chukker to stretch their lead to 9-2 while FG Polo banged in two back-to-back goals to finish the match at 9-4 in favour of Diamond Paints.  

Tomorrow (Wednesday), two important matches will be contested here at the Pakistan Par, where BN Polo will vie against FG Polo at 2:15 pm while at 3:30 pm, Barry’s will compete against HN Polo Team.