LAHORE – Master Paints’ relentless progress towards the final of the Bank Alfalah National Polo Championship for the Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup 2011 continued as they regained the top slot in the points table. Defending champions Colony Sugar were placed second at the close of the matches on Thursday. Master Paints hammered 14 goals in response to Army/Askari Bank’s 8. It was Gaston Moore who banged nine goals, some of them solo. His team-mates Hissam Ali Hyder and Sufi Muhammad Haris came up with four and one goals respectively to complete the tally. Army/Askari Bank goals came through all of the four riders, Isfandiyar Ali Khan Pataudi, Lt. Asif Manzoor, Raja Temur Nadeem and Julio Nevillo Astrada.
Meanwhile, PAF Hataff’s quartet managed to lead their team to its first win of the tournament, as they beat Guard Group/Diamond Paints 11-8. Fahd Hadeed led the attack with four goals, while Hassan Ali Farrukh and Omar Asjad Malhi shared rest of the goals. Raja Samiullah was the leading player for Guard Group/Diamond Paints, with Taimur Ali Malik and Pablo Begnardi extending due support.
However, the match of the day was contested between Warid and Al Khan/Ciro’s Pomodoro, with the latter sneaking away with a close 9-8 win. Fernando Quinto Bourdieu scored the winner in the final chukker. Apart from his winning goal, Fernando scored five goals, while Shah Shamyl Alam, Iftikhar Ali Khan Simba and Hamza Mawaz Khan also played their part in the win. Ahmed Zubair, Manuel Crespo and Bilal Haye fought until the end, but in vain.
