LAHORE – FG Polo team won the historic trophy of the Century 99 Punjab Cup Polo Tournament 2023 after defeating Newage Cables/Master Paints by 6-4 in the main final here at the Lahore Polo Club on Sunday.
Directors of Century Ventures Private Limited, Ayaz Lakhani, Kamran Afsil, Wasim Mazhar, Nazia Wasim, President of Lahore Polo Club Umar Sadiq, Secretary of Pakistan Polo Association (PPA) Lt Col Ayaz, former President of Lahore Polo Club Syed Shahid Ali and a large number of people from all walks of life were present on the occasion to witness and enjoy the enthralling final. At the concluding ceremony, the chief guests distributed prizes among the winners while President Lahore Polo Club Umar Sadiq thanked sponsors Century Ventures for sponsoring the historic polo event.
Raul Laplacette emerged as hero of the main final from Team FG Polo as he played outstanding polo and exhibited excellent mallet and pony work that helped him contribute with four fantabulous goals. Ramiro Zavaleta also played well and pumped in the remaining two goals. Simon Prada thrashed in three goals and Juan Cruz Greguol converted one for Newage Cables/Master Paints.
FG Polo opened their account through field goal by hero of the day Raul Laplacette to take a 1-0 lead, which couldn’t last long as Newage/Master Paints made a good comeback by firing in a field goal to equalize the score at 1-1. FG Polo then changed their game plan and started playing aggressive polo. It worked well as they succeeded in banging in back-to-back goals to earn a healthy 3-1 lead by the end of the first chukker.
FG Polo maintained their supremacy in the second chukker as well as they banged in a beautiful brace to further enhance their lead to 5-1.
The third chukker saw both the sides scoring one goal each, with FG Polo still enjoying a 6-2 lead. The fourth and last chukker was though fully dominated by Newage/Master Paints as they scored two back-to-back goals yet they lost the final by 4-6. The best-playing polo pony Depputiva owned by Abbas Mukhtar and played by Raul Laplacette. The most valuable player of the final award was also earned by Raul Laplacette. John Fisher and Chris Hyde officiated the match and Amirreza Behboudi was the match referee.
Before the main final, the subsidiary final was contested between Master Paints and Remounts and after a good competition, Master Paints won the encounter by 7-5. Manuel Crespo did the magic with mallet and polo pony and smashed in all the seven goals for Master Paints. Jota Chavanne hammered a hat-trick of goals for Remounts while Swr Naeem slammed in two goals.
