Colony Sugar maintained its grip on the top of the standing in the Bank Alfalah National Polo Championship for the Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup 2012 on Thursday, winning the second match by yet another big margin here at the Lahore Polo Club ground.
It was another busy day at the LPC which apart from Colony Sugar saw Master Paints, Al Khan-Ciro’s Pomodoro and Nestle leave the field smiling ad relieved.
Master Paints, the defending champions downed Hataff/Diamond Paints 10-7. Although Hataff opened the scoring through Vieri Antinori by his solo effort, but Master Paints came into the game with two back to back goals in the second chukker and then three in the third. Gaston Moore was the star of the match who scored first goal of his seven to start the second chukker for Master Paints. Ignacio Del Tour scored the second goal by a long lofted pass of Gaston.
Masters remained dominant of the third chukker also in which Moore got two goals through 40 and 60 yards penalty. Sufi Mohammad Amir hit in the fifth goal f his team after a long chase.
Gaston Moore added another two goals to the start of the four chukker and it was only then Hataff got a chance to sneak into Masters goal post twice thanks to Vieri Antinori. Gaston added two more field goals and Vieri got though once but the margin of difference remained 9-4 unassailable for Hataff until a gigantic effort is shown.
Hataff contributed three more goals in the fifth chukker but that was not enough to reduce the margin while Ignacio came up with Masters’ 10th goal. Vieri’s one and two from Bilal Haye were not enough to save Hataff from defeat.
Colony Sugar, the title favourite team, cut Pakistan Army-Nadra to size bu hitting in a dozen goals and conceding six. Colony Sugar came up with four goals to start the match with. Santiago Mendivil scored two goals with a back hander and a long chase in the first chukker and another in the second by an under the neck shot after Raul Laplacette produced under the neck goal. Raja Temur Nadeem got the first goal of the losing side with his solo effort. Colony Sugar kept its grip on the game with another two goals in the third chukker while allowing the rival team’s James Harper to go through their defence for once.
The fourth chukker also remained in Colony Sugar’s control after they scored four goals wile Army-Nadra getting just one. However the fifth quarter was a change of fortune in which Army-Nadra converted three goals while Colony Sugar had two.
The third match Al Khan/Ciro’s Pomodoro had to fight all ends to beat Guard Group/Newage 9-8 in a sudden death sixth chukker. They were locked eight-all by the fifth chukker and the golden goal was cacked by Manuel Crespo with a solo effort. Hissam Hyder, Taimur Ali Malik and Shah Shamyl Alam were the stars of the losing side while Al Khan/Ciro’s Pomodoro got win through all of their four riders Omar Asjad Malhi, Shaukat Ali Malik, Dr. Iftikhar Ali Khan Simba and Crespo.
Nestle outplayed BBJ Pipes by 9 goals to 6. Nestle took early lead in the match and that control on the game remained unreachable for BBJ Pipes till the final hooter. Shah Qubilai Alam, Hamza Mawaz Khan and Raja Samiullah maintained their upper hand throughout the fie chukkers with on and off effort was witnessed from the rival team’s Ahmed Zubair, Gerardo Mazzini and Ahmed Ali Tiwana.
Points table
TEAMS P W L GF GA Pts Ave
Colony Sugar 2 2 – 22 9 4 +13
Nestle 2 2 – 18 14 4 +4
Master Paints 2 1 1 18 16 2 +2
BBJ Pipes 2 1 1 14 15 2 -1
Pakistan Army 2 1 1 15 20 2 -5
AL Khan/Ciros 2 1 1 12 18 2 -6
Guard Group 2 – 2 16 18 0 -2
Hataff 2 – 2 13 18 0 -5
