LAHORE - Royal Palm outpaced Master Paints by 9-4 to qualify for the main final while Hattaf routed Polo d’ Sooferman by 8-5½ to qualify for the subsidiary final of the 12-goal Clarks Pakistan Polo Cup 2015 to be played here at the Lahore Polo Club ground tomorrow (Sunday).
Both Royal Palm and Master Paints received a lot of appreciation from excited spectators. Foreign player Oliver Hipwood opened the Master Paints account with his superb field goal. Hero of the day Juan Cruz Losada, who contributed significant seven goals in Royal Palm’s triumph, hammered three back-to-back goals to help his team take 3-1 lead before the end of the first chukker.
Master Paints’ Saqib Khan Khakwani hit the first goal of the second chukker to reduce the lead to 3-2 which was again increased by Royal Palm players with three back-to-back goals making it 6-2. Juan hit brace and Raja Samiullah a goal. The third chukker saw one goal each from both the teams, as Juan struck another for Royal Palm and Saqib added one for Master Paints to finish the chukker 7-3.
In the fourth and last chukker, Oliver hit one to reduce the lead to 7-4 which was further strengthened by Royal Palm players who added two more to finish the chukker and match 9-4.
In another match, Polo d’ Sooferman started the match in great style as they slammed two goals in the first chukker. One of the top players of the country Hissam Ali Hyder struck superb two to help Sooferman finish the first chukker 2-0. Hattaf bounced back in second chukker hitting three goals one by Bilal Haye and two by Richard Le Poer while Hissam had one for Sooferman to end chukker 3-3 level.
Richard struck two to help Hattaf take 5-3 lead before the end of the third chukker. Hissam scored the first goal of the fourth and last chukker to reduce the lead to 5-4 but Hattaf then hammered three to finish the match 8-4. Richard, Hassan Ali Farrukh and Bilal Haye scored one goal apiece.