LAHORE - Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Polo D Sufi Thursday qualified for the main final of the Tenacious Polo Cup 2019 after winning their respective ties while PBG/Remounts and Master Paints/Diamond Paints booked berths in the subsidiary final.
In the first match of the day played at Fortress Stadium, PAF defeated PBG/Remounts by 11½-10. Raja Sami Ullah emerged hero of the day for PAF as he fired in fabulous five goals while Nafees Ur Rehman Barry contributed one goal. For PBG/Remounts, Nicolas Ruiz Guinazu hammered a hat-trick and Saqib Rider banged in a brace.
Earlier, four chukkers were played and the match resumed with PAF having 5½-5 lead. The fifth chukker remained goalless while the sixth chukker saw PAF stamping their authority by thwarting two back-to-back goals by Raja Sami to enhance their lead to 7½-5. PBG played well and struck one through Nicolas to reduce the margin to 7½-6.
The seventh chukker was also dominated by PAF as they scored a quartet as against one goal by PBG. For PAF, Raja Sami added two more goals and Nafees Barry hit one. For PBG, Saqib Rider converted a goal. At the close of the seventh chukker, PAF were enjoying the lead of 11½-7. PBG though staged a strong comeback and thwarted three back-to-back goals yet they couldn’t add more goals in their total tally, thus lost the match by 11½-10.
Polo D Sufi registered an impressive victory against Master Paints/Diamond Paints with a margin of 12½-9. Earlier in the four chukkers of the match played here the other day, Polo D Sufi were enjoying the lead of 7½-4. When the match resumed, Master Paints/Diamond Paints put enormous pressure on their rivals, thus succeeded in converting two back-to-back goals - one each by Hamza Mawaz Khan and Saqib Khan Khakwani - to reduce the margin to 7½-6. But Mumtaz Abbas finished the chukker well by converting a field goal to stretch their lead to 8½-6. Mumtaz Abbas then slammed in two more goals in the sixth chukker to further give his side 10½-6 lead, but Hamza bounced back well and pumped in one more goal to make it 10½-7.
Hamza then fully prevailed in the seventh chukker and never allowed his opponents to score a single in that particular chukker. With his brilliant brace, he added to his side’s tally, he further reduced the margin to 10½-9. In the eighth and last chukker, Polo D Sufi fought back well and succeeded in thwarting two tremendous goals to finish the match having the lead of 12½-9.
The subsidiary final will be played between PBG/Remounts and Master Paints/Diamond Paints on January 12 at 1:00 pm while the main final will be contested between PAF and Polo D Sufi on January 13 at 3:00 pm.
