LAHORE              -       AOS Polo Team and Samba Bank qualified for the main final of the Hamadan Polo Cup for Lahore Open Polo Championship 2019 after registering close victories against their respective opponents in the semifinals played here at Lahore Polo Club ground on Friday.

In the first semifinal, AOS Polo Team defeated Master Paints by a close margin of 5-4. Raja Samiullah and Shah Shamyl Alam struck a brace each from the winning side while Hashim Kamal Agha contributed one. From the losing side, Mariano Regal banged in a brace while Raja Jalal Arslan and Bilal Haye scored one goal apiece.

Both the teams started the match in great style as they converted two goals each in the first chukker to make it 2-all. No goal was scored in the second chukker while AOS Polo fully dominated the third chukker by smashing in a brace to gain 4-2 edge. The fourth and last chukker saw Master Paints thrashing two goals against one by AOS, who were still enjoying 5-4 lead, when the final whistle was blown.

Samba Bank edged out PBG/S&R by 4-3 in the well-contested second semifinal. Edward Banner Eve was key contributor from the winning side as he banged in a brace while Alman Jalil Azam and Syed Turab Rizvi converted one goal each. From the losing side, Tom Brodie, Lt Col Omer Minhas and Rafay Attique hit one goal apiece.

Samba Bank stamped their authority right from the beginning as they thrashed two goals against one by PBG/S&R to have 2-1 lead. Samba Bank converted one more goal in the second chukker to strengthen their lead to 3-1. PBG fired in a field goal in the third chukker to reduce the margin to 3-2 while they slammed in an equaliser in the beginning of the fourth and last chukker to square the things at 3-3. Both the sides then kept on attacking each other’s goal but couldn’t convert one and in the dying moments of the match, it was once again promising talent Syed Turab Rizvi, who malleted a marvelous match-winning goal to steer his side to a well-deserving 4-3 triumph.