LAHORE – Diamond Paints and BBJ Pipes carved out convincing victories in the 2nd Allama Iqbal Polo Cup 2022 sponsored by KFC here at the Pakistan Park on Wednesday.
In the first match of the day, Diamond Paints outpaced BN/Barry’s by 7-5½. Marcos Panelo emerged as star of the day with superb six goals out of seven while Mir Huzaifa Ahmed struck the remaining one goal. From BN/Barry’s, which had a half goal handicap advantage, Ernesto Trotz and Hilario Ruiz Guinaziu banged in a brace each while Hamza Mawaz Khan converted one goal.
BN/Barry’s started the match well by converting a brace against one by Diamond Paints to gain a slight 2-1 lead by the end of the first chukker. They continued their good show in the second chukker as well and added one more goal in their tally to enhance their lead to 3-1. Diamond Paints stamped their authority in the third chukker and smashed in three tremendous goals against one by BN/Barry’s to level the score at 4-4. They thrashed in three more goals against one by BN/Barry’s to win the encounter by 7-5½ as BN/Barry’s had a half goal handicap advantage.
Phenomenal performance of Raja Sami Ullah and two and a half goal handicap advantage helped BBJ Pipes beat high-flying FG Polo Team by a narrow margin of 7½-7 in the second encounter of the day. Veteran Raja Sami Ullah emerged as hero of the day from BBJ Pipes, which had two and a half goal handicap advantage, with a classic contribution of fabulous four goals while from FG Polo Team, Julio Novillo Astrada fired in four fantastic goals while Ramiro Zavalette banged in a brace and Farasat Ali Chatha struck one.
The match started with BBJ Pipes having 2½ goal handicap advantage but FG Polo Team playing their best polo hammered a hat-trick of goals to gain a slight 3-2½ lead. The second chukker was evenly poised as both the sides slammed in one goal apiece with FG Polo still having a minor 4-3½ lead.
BBJ Pipes converted one in the beginning of third chukker to take 4½-4 lead but FG Polo bounced back well and banged in a brace to get back 6-4½ lead. The action-packed fourth and last chukker saw BBJ Pipes playing better polo and thrashing in three tremendous goals against one by FG Polo to win the closely-contested encounter with a narrow margin of 7½-7.
