LAHORE – Army/Askari Bank ousted Master Paints as the points table leaders with a close win over Al Khan/Ciro’s Pomodoro here in the Bank Alfalah National Polo Championship for the Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup 2011 Tuesday. However, it was Army/Askari Bank’s fifth match of the event, while Master Paints secured eight points after winning their fourth match. Colony Sugar, with their fourth win in five games, also kept their hopes alive. Julio Nevillo Astrada responded timely to the call of his team Army/Askari Bank to bag a 9-7 win against Al Khan/Ciro’s Pomodoro. He scored six goals and was supported by Isfandiyar Ali Khan Pataudi with three goals. Their rivals excelled through Fernando Quinto Bourdieu (four), Shah Shamyl Alam (two) and Hamza Mawaz Khan (one).
Warid Polo Team, after two wins earlier in the tournament, lost to Master Paints after a close encounter in the sixth chukker. Master Paints scored ten goals while Warid scored nine. It was in fact a fight between the two Argentineans, Master’s Manuel Crespo and Warid’s Gaston Moore, while other riders seemed mere onlookers. Both the riders earned hat-tricks, but Moore proved much more disciplined, getting all the 10 goals, including the golden goals. Crespo scored eight and their ninth came from Maj. Rabnawaz Tiwana.
Raul LaPlacette was the star of the slow-paced match between Colony Sugar and Guard Group/Diamond Paints, wich Colony won 7-3. Raul LaPlacette managed five of the seven goals, while Naveed M Sheikh completed the tally with two. Guard /Diamond were playing without any foreign player and Raja Samiullah and Taimur Ali Malik scored for them. Simon Mclaren Tosh, Pablo Bagnardi, Gaston Moore, Shah Shamyl Alam, Julio Nevillo Astrada, Manuel Crespo and Fernando Quinto Bourdieu were the umpires and referees for the matches.
