LAHORE
Pedro Zacharias and Bilal Haye’ heroics steered Wi-Tribe Shahsawars to an overwhelming 8-5 victory over Army/Bank Alfalah in the Bank Alfalah National Polo Championship for the Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup 2015 match played here at the Lahore Polo Club (LPC) ground Wednesday.
Pedro was top scorer with four goals while Bilal Haye thrashed tremendous three and Raja Samiullah added one in the Shahsawars’ victory. Maj Gen Isfandyar Ali Khan Pataudi and Maj Omer Minhas scored brace for the losing side while Tomas Llorente contributed one.
The well-contested match started with hero of the last tournament and one of the most impressive player of the tournament so far Pedro hammering two impressive goals – the first was a 30-yarder and the second was field goal – to provide Shahsawars early 2-0 lead in the first chukker. Army men showed their class in the second chukker and slammed three goals – one by Tomas and two by Maj Omer – to finish the chukker leading with 3-2.
The third chukker was evenly poised as one goal each was converted by both the teams. First Raja Samiullah struck an equalizer to level the score 3-3 but then Maj Gen Isfandyar came from behind and sent the ball between the polls to help Army finish the chukker with 4-3 lead.
The fourth chukker was all about Wi-Tribe Shahsawars as they managed to gather altogether four goals – with Bilal Haye scoring striking goals and Pedro also smashing impressive two to enable Shahsawars take a healthy 7-4 lead before the end of the chukker.
Army started the fifth and last chukker well with Maj Gen Isfandyar hitting an imposing field goal to reduce the deficit to 7-5. The soldiers then kept on attacking the Shahsawars goal to square the things but all their efforts went in vain rather Bilal Haye managed another goal for the winners in the dying moments to finish the chukker and match at 8-5.
International umpire Ben Turner and Shah Shamyl Alam supervised the match while Zain Khan Khakwani performed the duty as referee.
Master Paints thumped Royal Residencia/Learning Alliance by 6-5 in a thrilling encounter. Manuel Crespo played brilliantly and hammered three goals while Sufi M Amir contributed significant two and Saqib Khan Khakwani one to help Master Paints register a deserving win. Juan Cruz Losada was instrumental with mallet on his horse and managed to fire fabulous five goals but those were too low to save his team from tasting defeat. Ben Turner and Pedro Zacharias were umpires while Shah Qubilai Alam was referee.
Matias Vial Perez excelled in Newage/Master Paints convincing 10-6 triumph over Guard Group in the third and last match of the day. Hero of the day Matias, as always, amused the spectators with his luminous game and six-goal rally and guided his team to a dazzling victory. Hissam Ali Hyder also played well and contributed significant four goals in his team’s win.
For the losing side, Julio Nevillo Astrada also played well and struck five goals while Navid Shaikh hit one. Ben Turner and Manuel Crespo were umpires while Ahmed Ali Tiwana was referee.