Raul Laplacette-led Colony Sugar claimed one of the prestigious titles of the national polo calendar, The Enterprise-sponsored Punjab Cup 2012 here at the Lahore Polo Club’s main Aibak Ground on Sunday. Colony Sugar outplayed Master Paints 8-3 in the final to lay their hands at their first major title of the season and for that win Laplacette played a pivotal role with five hits across the polls. His teammate Santiago Mendivil opened the scoring with a solo effort and later added his second goal in the game with the well-manipulated move of Laplacette. Laplacette and Naveed M Sheikh added one goal each after Mendivil got the opener to enter into the game with sheer dominance. But Gaston Moore reduced the margin by adding his team Master Paints first goal with a 40 yard penalty hit. Colony and Masters added one goal each in the second chukker in which Sufi Mohammad Hairs got limelight for Masters but for Colony Sugar it was Laplacette’s solo strike that left the score tottering at 4-2.
They further consolidated their position with two back to back goals but Moore, his second and the team’s third and final, showed that the match is not over yet. However, Laplacette with another two goals made sure that the difference of win should go so big that it wont be easy for the Masters to surpass the margin. Although the game remained one-sided throughout the four quarters but all the riders kept the holiday fans and the chief guest Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, enjoy the evening to their maximum. She later presented the winner’s trophy to Colony Sugar quartet.
Earlier, in the day Nestle cut joint Pakistan Army-Nadra team to size with six goals to three. It was in fact the Nestle team that played like a well-knit unit and the Army-Nadra quartet had only Gerardo Mazzini to make his presence felt. It were Raja Samiullah and Shah Qubilai Alam who began Nestle’s ride to success for a third place with one goal each.
James Harper was replaced by Gerardo Mazzini in the Army-Nadra line-up before the second quarter but was of no use as there was no goal scored in that chukker. However, Saqib Khan Khakwani began to show the grip his team had on the game and added a back hand goal, first of his three. Hamza Mawaz Khan brought the fourth for Nestle. But Mazzani tried his luck to bring Army-Nadra back into contention with a hat-trick. But it was Nestle which was playing as a team and Khakwani ensured that their superiority remain intact. Simon Mclaren Tosh, Rodrigus Azocar Bravo and Manuel Crespo were the umpires while Saqib Khan Khakwani and Omar Asjad Malhi were the referees.
