LAHORE – The semifinals of the 2nd President of Pakistan Polo Cup 2023 sponsored by Takmeel Square will be played tomorrow (Friday) here at the Jinnah Polo Fields.
The first semifinal of the prestigious tournament will be played between BN Polo and Diamond Paints at 2:30 PM, while FG Polo will face Master Paints/Newage Cables at 3:30 PM in the second semifinal. Earlier on Thursday, two important matches were played, after which Remounts and Master Paints qualified for the subsidiary finals.
In the first match of the day, Menuel Sundblad steered Remounts to a nail-biting 6-5 win over DS Polo in the extra time, known as sudden death chukker. For Remounts, Manuel Sundblad played brilliant polo and smashed in five fabulous goals while Jota Chavanne converted one goal. For DS Polo, Hissam Ali Hyder fired in four fantastic goals and Bilal Haye struck one. But their efforts proved futile in the end.
Remounts opened their account with a fabulous field goal to take a 1-0 lead, but DS Polo cracked an equalizer just before the end of the first chukker to make it 1-1. They thrashed in two back-to-back goals to gain a slight 3-1 lead in the second chukker. The third chukker saw DS Polo adding one more goal in their tally, stretching their lead to 4-1 but Remounts then made a strong comeback by banging in two back-to-back goals to reduce the margin to 3-4.
In the fourth chukker, Remounts continued to play well and fired in a field goal to draw the blood at 4-4. At this point, it was anyone’s match, but DS Polo came from behind to smash a field goal to have an edge of 5-4. Remounts also showed their class and converted a field goal to level the score at 4-4 just before the end of the chukker and the match entered the sudden death chukker, where both the teams fought well against each other, but it was hero of the match Manuel Sundblad, who hammered the match-winning goal to help his side score a thrilling 6-5 victory.
ManueI Crispo’s superb performance guided Master Paints to an impressive 7-4 triumph over HN Polo in the second match of the day. In-form Manuel Crespo emerged as top scorer with a contribution of six splendid goals while Agha Musa Ali Khan struck the remaining one from the winning side. For HN Polo, Santi Losa thrashed in three goals while Mikayial Sami hit one goal.
The first chukker saw both the sides scoring one goal each to make it 1-1. But the second chukker was then fully dominated by Master Paints by thrashing in three back-to-back goals to gain a good 4-1 lead. They continued their good show in the third chukker as well by hammering another hat-trick of goals to enhance their lead to 7-1. HN Polo bounced back well and converted one goal in the third chukker and two in the fourth and last chukker to reduce the margin, but it was too little too late, as they lost the match by 4-7.
