LAHORE – All-round HN Polo Team clinched the coveted trophy after edging out Newage Cables/Master Paints by a narrow margin of 9-8 in the main final of the Tower 21 Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup Open 2022 that concluded here at the historic Lahore Polo Club on Sunday.
The grand finale of the grand event of Lahore Polo Club proved to be a battle royal, where both the teams fought for each and every goal till the end and when the final whistle was blown, the match was tied at 8-all. The nail-biting final was then decided in the sudden death chukker, where once again a tough fight was witnessed both the high-flying sides and it was hero of the day Tito Ruiz Guinazu, who got the honour of smashing in the match-winning goal and won his maiden Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup of his career so far in Pakistan.
Talking to media after registering title victory, Tito Ruiz Guinazu said: “As I was struggling to win this prestigious event for a couple of years, finally, I have won this Quaid-e-Azam Cup. We all played well like a unit and it was hard work as well as team work, which helped us win this title. Credit goes to all the boys, who played so well in the final and we are very happy with this win. The final was very excited especially the last chukker, when the match-winning goal was scored and we won the trophy.”
Hamza Mawaz Khan, who playing in place of injured Raja Sami Ullah, was the player who also stole the show for HN Polo as he made a major contribution of fabulous four goals in for HN Polo’s tally to emerge as top scorer while his teammates Tito Ruiz Guinazu and his younger brother Hilario Ruiz Guinazu contributed with two important goals each while Haider Naseem also converted one goal for the winners.
Newage Cables/Master Paints also played superb polo and fought for each and every goal till the end and they remained successful in finishing the fifth and last chukker at 8-all. But the sudden chukker saw HN Polo’s Tito Ruiz Guinazu shinning with mallet and pony and pumping in the match-winning goal, thus Newage Cables/Master Paints finished as runners-up. Gonazlo Deltour was the top scorer for the losing team as he contributed with four fantastic goals while his teammates Vieri Antinori hammered a hat-trick of goals and Alman Jalil Azam struck one goal.
The colorful concluding ceremony was graced by Tower 21 CEO Hamza Raza Malik as chief guest, who in the presence of Tower 21 management, Lahore Polo Club President Umer Sadik, Secretary General Agha Murtaza Ali Khan, executive committee members, players and their families and polo lovers, gave away prizes and shields among the winners, runners-up, subsidiary finalists and top performers of the event.
The best foreign player award was given to Tito Ruiz Guinazu of HN Polo, the best Pakistani player award was claimed by Raja Temur Nadeem, Life Time Achievement award by former LPC President Abdul Qadir Mamdot, emerging player award was won by Ibrahim Sultan, the spirit of polo award by Faisal Tarrar, in 0-2 category, the award winner was Hussain Monnoo, the 2-goal category award went to Imran Shahid and the 4-2 category award was lifted by Hamza Mawaz Khan and Ahmed Ali Tiwana.
The awards were also distributed among Lahore Polo Club office management as Muhammad Irfan Superintendent and Accounts Manager, Imran Iqbal Polo Manager and Faisal Mehmood Assistant Accounts Manager also received their awards. The best playing polo pony (foreign) was Camila owned by Haider Naseem and played by Tito Ruiz while the best playing polo pony was Buraq 599 owned by Remounts and played by Simon Prado. According to its owner, this local pony has competed well against the best foreign ponies and they will have much better ponies in the seasons to come.
Earlier in the subsidiary final, DS Polo/Rizvi’s defeated FG Polo Team by a close margin of 4-3. Max Charlton emerged as star of the day for DS Polo/Rizvi’s as he hammered all the four goals while Waqas Khan and Ramiro Zaveletta played well for FG Polo Team by converting two and one goal respectively.
