LAHORE – HN Polo and Newage Cables/Master Paints qualified for the main final of the Tower 21 Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup Open 2022 after winning their respective semifinals here at the Lahore Polo Club ground on Friday.
In the first semifinal of the day, Newage Cables/Master Paints players played superb polo against Remounts and overpowered them by 6-2 to book berth in the main final. Gonzalo Deltour was hero of the day for Newage Cables/Master Paints as he played outstanding polo and amused the spectators with his superb mallet and pony work. He fired in fabulous four goals for the winning team while his teammates Vieri Antinori and Alman Jalil Azam converted one goal apiece. For team Remounts, Nico Roberts and Simon Prado struck one goal each.
Newage Cables/Master Paints opened their account by successfully converting a 40-yard penalty corner to take 1-0 lead. They maintained their supremacy in the second and third chukkers as well by pumping in three and two goals respectively to earn a healthy 6-0 lead. Remounts made their presence felt in the fourth and last chukker by banging in a brace but it was too little too late for them, as they couldn’t score more and lost the semifinal by 2-6.
The second semifinal of the day proved to be a nail-biting encounter, where HN Polo held their nerves in the dying moments of the match and won the crucial match with a narrow margin of 8-7. Due to injury, Raja Sami Ullah couldn’t play the crucial match and thus was replaced by Hamza Mawaz Khan.
Titu Ruiz Guinazu emerged as star of the day for HN Polo as he did magic with his mallet and pony and pumped in four fantastic goals while Hamza Mawaz Khan also played aggressive polo and hammered a hat-trick of goals and Hilario Ruiz Guinazu scored one goal. For Diamond Paints, Matias Vial Perez cracked a quartet while Guy Gibrat banged in a brace and Ahmed Ali Tiwana hit one goal.
Both the teams started the semifinal on a high pace and continued to launch a series of attacks on each other’s goal. Diamond Paints succeeded in converting goals thrice while HN Polo twice. By the end of the first chukker, Diamond Paints have a slight 3-2 lead. Diamond Paints fired in a field goal in the beginning of the second chukker to enhance their lead to 4-2 but HN Polo made a good comeback and thrashed in two back-to-back goals to level the score at 4-4.
The third chukker was evenly poised as both the team played equally well and slammed in two goals each to once again equalize the score at 6-6. The fourth and decisive chukker saw HN Polo showing their dominance and smashing in two goals to gain a lead of 8-6. Diamond Paints bounced back by scoring a goal to make it 8-7, but they couldn’t score more goals, thus lost the semifinal by 7-8.
Earlier, the match between FG Polo Team and Master Paints for the place in the subsidiary final proved to be a thrilling one, where after a tough fight, FG Polo emerged victorious with a close margin of 5-4 and also earned a place in the subsidiary final.
Juan Ambroggio played superb polo and hammered an impressive hat-trick for FG Polo while Ramiro Zavaletta banged in a brace. For Master Paints, Marcos Panelo thrashed in three goals and Bilal Haye scored one goal. Tomorrow (Saturday), the match, which was postponed due to rain, will be played and the winners of the match will compete against FG Polo in the subsidiary final.
The challenging and exciting semifinals were witnessed by Tower 21 CEO Hamza Malik, Lahore Polo Club President Umer Sadik, Secretary General Agha Murtaza Ali Khan, executive committee members, polo players, their families and polo lovers.
