LAHORE – Master Paints suffered their first defeat of the Bank Alfalah National Polo Championship for the Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup 2011 on Friday when defending champions Colony Sugar secured victory through a golden goal. Despite the defeat, Masters lead the rostrum with a better goal average than Colony Sugar, who are placed second.
Master Paints and Colony Sugar remained even at 10-all at the end of five chukkers, and it was Shah Qublai Alam who lofted the ball home for Colony Sugar to bag the golden goal in the sixth chukker. Meanwhile, Manuel Crespo led Warid to a 7-4 win against Guard Group/Diamond Paints.
It was Warid’s third win after three losses. Ahmed Zubair and Maj. Rabnawaz Tiwana extended full support to Crespo. From the losing side, Taimur Ali Malik and Raja Samiullah shared the goals. Fernando Quinto Bourdieu spoiled Pablo Bagnardi’s efforts when he scored three goals in the Al Khan/Ciro’s Pomodoro’s 6-5 victory over PAF (Hataff). Hamza Mawaz Khan and Shah Shamyl Alam, with two goals, completed the tally for Pomodoro, while Hassan Ali Farrukh hit two goals for PAF after Pablo’s three. The umpires and referees for the matches were Simon Mclaren Tosh, Fernando Quinto Bourdieu, Manuel Crespo, Raul LaPlacette, Gaston Moore and Saqib Khan Khakwani.