Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup: Master breeze into semifinals

LAHORE – Master Paints qualified for the semifinals of the Century Ventures National Open Polo Championship for Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup 2023 here at the Lahore Polo Club. The fourth semifinalist will be decided on penalty shootouts among the three teams on tomorrow (Thursday).  

MANUEL CRESPO MALLETS MASTER PAINTS TO AN EMPHATIC 12-6 WIN

In the first match, Master Paints defeated HN Polo by 12-6. From Master Paints, Manuel Crespo played a great game and smashed superb six goals while Pelayo Berrazadi hammered a hat-trick, Sufi Muhammad Haroon banged in a brace and Agha Musa Ali Khan scored one goal. For HN Polo, Raja Muhammad Mikael Sami thrashed in three goals, Santiago Loza scored two goals and Haider Naseem struck one.

Master Paints started the match in great style as they converted a field goal to take a 1-0 lead. HN Polo made a strong comeback with three back-to-back goals to gain a 3-1 lead. Master Paints first scored the only goal of the second chukker to make it 2-3 and then hammered a hat-trick in the third chukker to get back a 5-3 lead.

In the fourth chukker, HN Polo bounced back in style and thrashed in three goals against one by Master Paints to level the score at 6-6. The fifth and decisive chukker saw the total dominance of Master Paints, who smashed in superb six goals to win the match by 12-6, thus also qualifying for the semifinals.  

AMBROGGIO EXCELS IN FG POLO’S 6-4 WIN OVER DIAMOND PAINTS

In the second match, Diamond Paints team missed the opportunity to qualify for the semifinals directly as they lost the important match against FG Polo by 4-6. For FG Polo, Juan Ambroggio hammered three goals while Mian Abbas Mukhtar struck a brace and Ramiro Zavaleta scored one goal. For Diamond Paints, Chulo Corti scored two goals, Ahmed Ali Tiwana and Mir Huzaifa Ahmed hit one goal apiece.  

FG Polo made a tremendous start in the match with two back-to-back goals to earn a 2-0 lead. They added two more goals in the second chukker to have a 4-0 lead but Diamond Paints then made their presence felt by thrashing in three back-to-back goals to reduce the deficit to 3-4. The only goal of the third chukker was converted by FG Polo that helped them enhance their lead to 5-3. In the fourth chukker, Diamond Paints struck one more to reduce the margin to 4-5 but FG Polo added one more in their tally, taking their lead to 6-4. No more goals were scored after that, thus FG Polo winning the match by 6-4.  

TOMORROW’S FIXTURE

Tomorrow (Thursday), the penalty shootout among the three teams, including Diamond Paints, FG Polo and DS Polo, will take place to decide the fourth semifinalist team. The three teams won two matches each and also earned four points each.

MATCHES SUMMARY

MATCH # 15: MASTER PAINTS DEFEATED HN POLO BY 12-6

MASTER PAINTS: Manuel Crespo 6, Pelayo Berrazadi 3, Sufi Muhammad Haroon 2, Agha Musa Ali

Khan 1. Total: 12. 

HN POLO: Raja Muhammad Mikael Sami 3, Santiago Loza 2, Haider Naseem 1. Total: 6.  

UMPIRES: John Fisher & Chris Hyde.

MATCH # 16: FG POLO 6-4 DIAMOND PAINTS

FG POLO: Juan Ambroggio 3, Mian Abbas Mukhtar 2, Ramiro Zavaleta 1. Total: 6.  DIAMOND PAINTS: Chulo Corti 2, Ahmed Ali Tiwana 1, Mir Huzaifa Ahmed 1. Total: 4.

UMPIRES: John Fisher & Chris Hyde.