The final of the Lahore Open Polo Cup concluded here at the Lahore Polo Club on Sunday, with a convincing win by the Allied Bank team, who gave a drubbing to the Black Horse Paints team, Nine goals to Four by the end of the fourth chukker.
The final game of the tournament, the match was well attended with the crowd filling in to capacity, and a number of viewers taking their seats on the sidelines to enjoy the game up-close.
The match began with some stunning stick work, with Hissam Ali Haider driving the ball single handedly from the center of the ground for a lightning fast goal. Much more was expected from Pakistan’s top handicapped Hissam, but he was not given much backup by his teammates, leaving the score tied one-goal each at the end of the first Chukker.
Allied Bank made a strong retaliation in the second part of the game, scoring three more goals courtesy some fine playing by Saqib Khan Khakwani and Mumtaz Abbas Niazi. The Black Horse team, on the other hand, could only manage one more goal leaving the score four goals to two.
The third part of the match saw Allied Bank stretch their lead even further, managing to score more goals as their opponents in Black lagged behind. There seemed to be a glimmer of hope in the middle for Black Horse after Hissam Ali Haider once again blazed through the grass, leaving teammate and opponent alike in the dust, dragging the ball from one end of the ground to the other to score another sensational goal.
Niazi and Khakwani broke any momentum that Hissam had brought his team however, as they surged onwards to score the next few goals in the fourth chukker to take their lead to five, with a total of nine goals compared to Black Horse’s four, which is where the game ended.
The match brought to an end the Polo tournament which had started on December 19. Featuring international players from Argentina, Spain, UK and Italy, it has been one of the most well received and exciting events of the Polo season.
While neither of the teams with international players managed to make it to the final, perhaps due to the locally trained horses, but viewers got to see them on Sunday as well in the match held for third place before the final.
