LAHORE-Diamond Paints, Master Paints Black and DS Polo/ASC carved out contrastive victories in the Bank Alfalah National Open Polo Championship for Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup 2021 matches played here at the Lahore Polo Club ground on Tuesday.
Raul Laplacette guided Diamond Paints to an impressive 9-4 triumph over Remounts in the first encounter of the day. Raul was top scorer with fabulous four goals while Ramiro Zaveletta hammered a hat-trick and Saqib Khan Khakwani and Mir Huzaifa Ahmed scored one goal each from the winning side. The contribution from Remounts came from Ignacio Negri (2 goals) and Bilal Haye and LD Imran Shahid (1 goal each).
Diamond Paints started the match with a field goal through Mir Huzaifa to gain 1-0 lead while they added two more goals – one each by Zaveletta and Laplacette – to earn a 3-0 lead. Remounts bounced back in the second chukker converting three goals – two by Negri and one by Bilal Haye – to level the score at 3-all. Diamond Paints finished the second chukker by banging in a brace – one each by Zaveletta and Saqib Khakwani – to get back 5-3 lead.
The third chukker was evenly poised as both the sides struck one goal apiece to make it 6-4 with Imran Shahid and Laplacette converting one goal each for their sides. The fourth chukker was fully dominated by Diamond Paints, who slammed in two more goals – one each by Laplacette and Zaveletta – to stretch their lead to 8-4 while in the fifth and last chukker, they converted one more through Laplacette to win the match 9-4.
Matias Vial Parez smashed in superb seven goals in the Master Paints Black’s thrilling 9-8 victory in the second match of the day. The remaining goals from the winning side were scored by Mariano Raigal and Sufi M Haroon – one goal each. From Master Paints, Marcos Panelo fired in four goals while Juan Cruz Losada hit a hat-trick and Farooq Amin Sufi one goal.
Master Paints dominated the match right from the word go as they hammered a hat-trick through Losada (2 goals) and Panelo (1 goal) to enjoy a 3-0 early lead. Master Paints Black made a good comeback in the second chukker by thrashing in two back-to-back goals through Matias to reduce the margin to 3-2. Master Paints Black added two more goals in their tally through a brace by Matias to gain 4-3 lead but Master Paints then played better polo and hammered a hat-trick of goals – one each by Panelo, Losada and Sufi Farooq – to get back 6-4 lead.
Master Paints Black cracked a quartet – a hat-trick by Matias and a goal by Sufi Haroon – to earn a healthy 8-6 lead while Panelo struck one to reduce the margin to 8-7. Master Paints converted an equalizer in the beginning of the fifth and last chukker to draw the score at 8-all but Master Paints Black won the crucial match by 9-8 after converting the match-winning goal through Mariano Raigal.
Heroics of Hissam Ali Hyder helped DS Polo/ASC beat Newage/Rizvi’s by 9-8 in a closely-contested encounter Hissam emerged as star of the day with a contribution of superb six goals while his teammate Maxwell Charlton struck a hat-trick. For Newage/Rizvi’s, Salvador Jauretche cracked a quartet, while Salvador Ulloa and Syed Turab Rizvi banged in a brace, but their efforts proved futile in the end.
The first chukker saw both the sides converting a brace each as for Newage/Rizvi’s, Jauretche and Turab scored one each while Hissam struck both for DS Polo, who dominated the second chukker by banging in a brace as Hissam and Charlton hit one goal apiece to provide their side 4-2 lead. Both the teams converted one each in the third chukker to make it 5-3. Ulloa hit for Newage and Hissam for DS Polo.
Hissam continued his good show in the fourth chukker as well as he fired in a field goal to provide DS Polo 6-3 lead while Newage made a tremendous comeback by hammering a hat-trick – two by Jauretche and one by Ulloa – to draw the score at 6-all. The fifth and last chukker went neck-and-neck as both the sides were scoring goals one after another and at one stage, the score was 8-all. In this tough situation, DS Polo players held their nerves and converted a match-winning goal through Max Charlton to win the counter by 9-8.
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