LAHORE - Dewa’s Own outplayed Artema Medical to qualify for the main final of the Treet Polo Cup 2017 while Terra Energy beat BBJ Pipes to book berth in subsidiary final here at the Lahore Polo Club (LPC) ground on Thursday.
The high-voltage second encounter was played between Dewa’s Own and Artema Medical, and it was five-star Saqib Khan Khakwani who steered Dewa’s Own to superb 8-5½ victory. Saqib Khakwani was top scorer for the winning side as he hammered five goals while Mumtaz Abbas Niazi scored a brace and Mustafa Aziz hit one. From Artema Medical, which had half goal handicap advantage, Raja Arslan Najeeb struck four goals while Mir Huzaifa scored one.
Saqib Khakwani started the match with his field goal to give Dewa’s Own 1-½ edge. Raja Arslan then played superb polo and banged in two brilliant goals to provide Artema Medical 2½-1 lead. It was once again Saqib who struck the first goal of the second chukker to reduce the gap 2½-2, which was once again increased to 3½-2 by Raja Arslan. Mumtaz Abbas Niazi slammed his first goal to reduce the deficit to 3½-3.
The third chukker was completely dominated by Dewa’s Own as they pumped in four goals to take unassailable 7-3 ½ lead. Saqib hammered a hat-trick while Mustafa Aziz scored one. Artema Medical though tried hard to make a comeback and they also succeeded in converting two goals through Raja Arslan and Mir Huzaifa to reduce the gap to 7-5 ½ but they couldn’t add more goals. In the dying moments of the match, Mumtaz Abbas banged in a tremendous goal to finish the match with Dewa’s Own having 8-5½ lead.
Earlier in the first match of the day played between Terra Energy and BBJ Pipes, the half goal handicap came to rescue Terra Energy as both the sides scored 4-all when the final whistle was blown and Terra Energy were declared winners for having half goal handicap advantage. Haris Haroon Malik struck twice for the winners while Ahmed Bilal Riaz and Frasat Ali Chatha contributed one goal each. From the losing side, Abdul Rehman Monnoo slammed two goals while Raza Nawaz Tiwana and Atif Yar Tiwana hit one goal apiece.
