LAHORE
Magical polo player Juan Cruz Losada powered Royal Residencia/Learning Alliance to overpower Wi-Tribe Shahsawars 9-5 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 Friday.
Losada, who regained his lost form, displayed his prowess by contributing significant superb six goals in his team’s triumph while Ahmed Ali Tiwana converted two and Daboo Khan Niazi one. Pedro Zacharias though played exceptionally hammering fantastic four and Bilal Haye hit one but they couldn’t save Shahsawars from facing defeat.
Losada started the first chukker with his impressive 30-yarder goal – the only goal of the chukker. The second chukker saw altogether four goals – two each by both the teams – with Pedro hitting two back-to-back for the losers and Losada and Ahmed Tiwana hitting one each for the winners finishing the chukker 3-2 in favour of Royal Residencia/Learning Alliance.
One goal each was scored in the third chukker with Ahmed Tiwana scoring for the winners and Pedro scoring for the losers to end the chukker 4-3. Royal Residencia extended their lead in the fourth chukker with two goals – one each by Losada and Daboo Khan to making it 6-3 while Pedro reduced the deficit to 6-4 with his inspiring 60-yarder goal.
The fifth and last chukker was dominated by Royal Residencia with Losada, who was in sublime form, slamming three back-to-back goals to help his team take 9-4 lead while Bilal Haye hit one for the losing side to make it 9-5. Ben Turner and Manuel Crespo supervised the match while Saqib Khan Khakwani acted as referee.
Five goal rally by Taimur Ali Malik guided Guard Group to a thrilling 10-9 victory over Daewoo Pakistan in another match of the day. Taimur was ably assisted by Julio Nevillo Astrada who produced impressive four goals while Navid Shaikh hit one for the winners. For the losing side, Shah Shamyl Alam and Shah Qubilai Alam hammered four goals each while Zain Khan Khakwani hit one. Ben Turner and Matias Vial Perez were umpires and Hissam Ali Hyder was referee.
Master Paints defeated Army/Bank Alfalah 8-7 in a nail-biter. Manuel Crespo excelled in Master Paints win with his fabulous five goals while Sufi M Amir (2) and Saqib Khan Khakwani (1) ably assisted him. For the losing side, Tomas Llorente though hit six and Maj Haseeb Minhas one but they couldn’t save their team from defeat. Ben Turner and Julio Nevillo Astrada were umpires and Shah Qubilai Alam was referee.