LAHORE-Fantabulous hat-trick by phenomenal Syed Turab Rizvi steered Samba Bank to title triumph in the Hamadan Polo Cup for Lahore Open Polo Championship 2019 final, where they defeated AOS Polo Team by 5-4 here at the jam-packed Lahore Polo Club ground on Sunday.
Senior PTI Leader Jahangir Khan Tareen graced the final as chief guest while Provincial Minister Syed Samsam Bukhari, Ishaq Khan Khakwani, Ali Khan Tareen, Hamadan Society CEO Kamal Nasir Khan, LPC executive committee members Agha Murtaza, Mir Shoaib Ahmed, Agha Najeeb, Secretary Col (R) Mudassar Shareef, Omar Liaqat of Samba Bank, members, families and polo lovers were also present on the occasion and witnessed the high-quality polo.
Turab Rizvi was in sublime form and displayed tremendous polo skills and techniques in his team’s title triumph. Besides his hat-trick, foreign player Edward Banner Eve also played superbly and converted a brace from the winning side. From the losing side, the major contribution came from Shah Shamyl Alam with two goals while Hashim Kamal Agha and Hamza Hakeem added one goal each in their team’s tally, but their efforts were futile in the end.
The final began with a field goal by Edward Banner, which gave Samba Bank 1-0 lead in the first chukker. AOS Polo Team made a good comeback in the second chukker as they thrashed two goals against one by Samba Bank to square the things at 2-all. Samba Bank then bounced back brilliantly and banged in a brace to once again gain 4-2 edge.
Samba Bank continued their good show in the fourth and last chukker as they converted another goal through Turab Rizvi to enjoy a healthy 5-3 lead. AOS Polo Team though fought back well and succeeded in converting two back-to-back goals to reduce the margin to 5-4, but they couldn’t score an equalizer, thus lost the final by a very close margin of 4-5. Manuel Carranza and Ernesto Trotz officiated the match as field umpires.
Talking to media after winning the final, Syed Turab Rizvi said: “I am very glad to win the Lahore Open Polo Championship for the third time in a row, which is a great honour for me. While winning the “most valuable player (MVP)” award today in this event is an added bonus for me. I have a great support of my father Syed Talib Rizvi, who wants me to be one of the best polo players.”
“We were well prepared for this event, thus succeeded in grabbing the prestigious trophy for the third consecutive time. We are also hopeful of doing well in the upcoming events and try to achieve more feats in this season,” Turab added.