LAHORE: FG Polo Team and Diamond Paints registered thrilling victories in the Battle Axe Polo Cup 2020 matches played here at Cavalry Polo ground on Wednesday.
In the first match of the day, FG Polo Team edged out AOS Polo Team by a very close margin of 7-6 in the sudden death chukker as the match ended 6-all when the fourth chukker came to an end and FG Polo managed to convert the match-winning goal to win the nail-biting encounter. From FG Polo, Tom Brodie fired in fabulous four goals while Mian Abbas Mukhtar, Maj (R) Haseeb Minhas and Col Omer Minhas converted one goal apiece. From AOS Polo, Raja Samiullah hammered a hat-trick while Edward Banner Eve contributed with a brace and Kian Hall one.
FG Polo Team started the match with two back-to-back field goals to gain 2-0 lead. AOS Polo then fought back well and converted one goal to reduce the margin to 2-1. AOS continued their good show in the second chukker as well and banged in a brace to gain 3-2 lead. FG Polo then made a good comeback by thrashing two back-to-back goals to get back 4-3 lead.
The only goal of the third chukker was converted by AOS Polo by converting a 30-yard penalty to square the things at 4-all. In the fourth chukker, both the teams played superb polo and matched fire-with-fire as both the sides slammed in two goals each to make it 6-all. After that, both the sides tried their best to convert more goals but they failed to score more and the match then decided in the sudden death chukker, where FG Polo played better polo and succeeded in converting the match-winning goal to win the encounter 7-6.
The second match of the day also proved to be a thriller, where Diamond Paints overcame spirited Master Paints by a narrow margin of the 7-6. From Diamond Paints, Hissam Ali Hyder emerged as hero of the day as he hammered superb six goals while Mir Huzaifa Ahmed contributed with one goal. From Master Paints, Mariano Regal and Bilal Haye contributed with a brace each while Farooq Amin Sufi and Mumtaz Abbas Niazi hit one goal each.
Lahore Polo & Country Club (LP&CC) President Col (R) Shoaib Aftab graced the occasion as chief guest while Secretary Maj (R) Haseeb Minhas, Maj Gen (R) Minhas, Irfan Ali Hyder and others were also present on the occasion and fully enjoyed nail-biting encounters of the day.
