ISLAMABAD – PAF/Rizvi’s and Kalabagh/Shahtaj carved out thumping victories in the Islamabad Club Challenge Cup 2022 matches played here at the Islamabad Club Polo Ground on Wednesday.
High-flying Hamza Mawaz Khan’s heroics helped PAF/Rizvi’s trounce Kalabagh by a huge margin of 16-2½ in the first match of the day. Hamza was in sublime form and led his side from the front and kept on smashing one goal after another and his thirst of goal scoring came to an end with an excellent eleventh goal in the fourth and last chukker. His teammates phenomenal Syed Aun Muhammad Rizvi and Sqn Ldr Hamza Iqbal also played superb polo and banged in a brace each while Ashfaq also converted one goal.
Team Kalabagh couldn’t even open their account; such was the terrifying attack by PAF/Rizvi’s that the losing side kept on conceding goals one after another and couldn’t convert even a single goal. The only goals in the account of Team Kalabagh were two and a half goal handicap advantage, which made the final score 16-2½ in favour of PAF/Rizvi’s. Eulogio Celestino and Mumtaz Abbas Niazi officiated the match as field umpires.
The second match of the day also proved a high-scoring match, where both the teams played well but Kalabagh/Shahtaj played far better polo and outsmarted Team The Guard by a good margin of 12-5, thanks to star of the match foreign player Guy Gibrat, who amused the spectators with his mallet and pony work and contributed with superb six goals. Besides Guy Gibrat, Hashim Waheed also exhibited excellent polo skills and techniques and hammered a hat-trick of goals while Raja Temur Nadeem banged in a beautiful brace and Malik Salar slammed in the remaining one goal.
Team The Guards, which began the match having two goals handicap advantage, couldn’t match the pace and venom of Kalabagh/Shahtaj and conceded too many goals, which led to their downfall in the crucial encounter. The contribution from the losing side came from Mumtaz Abbas Niazi, Brig Shaharyar and N/R Saqib Raheem as all pumped in one goal apiece. Ismail Afzal and Bauti Fenell supervised the match as field umpires.
