LAHORE-Guard Group/Platinum Homes and Newage Cables won the Total Nutrition Polo Cup openers, which began here at Lahore Polo Club ground Tuesday.
In the first match of the day, Guard Group/Platinum Homes played well against Imperial Holdings and routed them by 7-4. Amirreza Behboudi played phenomenal polo and fired in five goals while Taimur Ali Malik struck the remaining two goals. From the losing side, which had two goals handicap advatange, Abdul Rehman converted both.
Guard Group dominated the match right from the word go as they hammered a hat-trick to take 3-0 lead in the first chukker. They continued their dominance in the second and third chukker as well by scoring two and one goal respectively to enhance their lead to 6-0. Imperial Holdings made their presence felt in the fourth and last chukker, when they converted two goals through Abdul Rehman to reduce the margin to 6-2, but it was too little too late, as Guard Group converted one more goal to win the match by 7-4.
The second match of the day also proved to be one-sided affair, where Newage Cables prevailed over Barry’s and won the encounter by 7½-2. Ed Banner Eve was hero of the day from Newage Cables as he cracked a quarter from the winning side, which had a half goal handicap advantage. The remaining contribution from the winners came from Adnan Jalil Azam, Alman Jalil Azam and Aun Rizvi, as all scored one each. From the losing side, Agha Musa and Rulo Trotz struck one goal apiece.
Both the teams started the match well and made it 1-all but Newage then converted one more goal to finish the first chukker having 2-1 lead. The second chukker was identical to the first one as once again, Newage struck twice against one goal by Barry’s to further stretch their lead to 4-2. The third and fourth chukkers were fully dominated by Newage as they slammed in two and one goal respectively to win the encounter by 7½-2.