LAHORE - Guard Group/Dascon Construction Company and Black Horse Paints/Artema Medical won the opening day matches of the Mohtram Polo Cup 2019 played here at the Lahore Polo Club ground on Tuesday.
Helped by six-goal haul by Saqib Khan Khakwani, Guard Group/DCC thrashed Aquafina by 11-3 in the first match of the day. Besides Saqib’s heroics, a hat-trick by Taimur Ali Malik and a brace by Shahnawaz Ayaz Durrani also played key role in their team’s triumph. The only goal from the losing side, which had two goals handicap advantage, came from Adnan Jalil Azam.
The match though started on a slow pace as only one goal was scored by Guard Group/DCC through Saqib yet they entered the ground with aggressive approach and scored an impressive quartet – two by Saqib and one each by Shahnawaz and Taimur – to take a healthy 5-0 lead. Aquafina showed some resistance in the third chukker, when they started it by converting a 30-yard penalty through Adnan Jalil to reduce the margin to 5-1. It was all that Aquafina could get from the match, as after that, Guard Group/DCC hammered three goals each in third and fourth chukker to win the match with a big margin of 11-3, as Aquafina had two goals handicap advantage.
The second match of the day was won by Black Horse Paints/Artema Medical, who defeated Total Nutrition by 9-4½. All the nine goals from the winning side came from high-flying Hamza Mawaz Khan. From the losing side, which had one and a half goal handicap advantage, Bilal Haye banged in a brace and Farooq Amin Sufi contributed one.
Black Horse Paints/Artema Medical stamped their authority right from the beginning by scoring two back-to-back goals to take 2-0 lead. Total Nutrition started the second chukker with a field goal by Bilal Haye to make it 2-1. But the winning side fought back well and hit two more goals to take a healthy 4-1 lead. Total Nutrition showed their dominance in the third chukker by scoring two goals as against one by their opponents to make it 5-3. This was all they could get from the match as Black Horse Paints hammered four more goals in the fourth to win the match 9-4½.
