Newage and Barry’s win Hamdan Aibak Polo Cup 2019 opener
Diamond Paints/Newage and Barry’s dominated the opening day of the Hamdan Aibak Polo Cup 2019, which rolled in action here at Lahore Polo Club ground.
Diamond Paints/Newage and Barry’s dominated the opening day of the Hamdan Aibak Polo Cup 2019, which rolled in action here at Lahore Polo Club ground.
In the first match of the day, Diamond Paints/Newage overpowered Olympia by 6-3½. Salvador Ulloa emerged as hero of the day with his four-goal haul for the winning side while his teammate Mir Huzaifa Ahmed contributed with a brace. From the losing side, which had a half goal handicap, Nicolas Corti hammered all the three goals.
Diamond Paints/Newage were off to flying start as they struck two back-to-back goals. Mir Huzaifa contributed through a field goal and Salvador through a spot penalty to finish the chukker with their team having 2-0 lead. Diamond Paints/Newage maintained their supremacy in the second chukker as well as they banged in a brace to stretch their lead to 4-0. Salvador was more severe with horse and mallet as he pumped in both the goals to complete his hat-trick.
No one could dare to stop the high-flying 7-goaler Salvador, who slammed in one more goal to give his side 5-0 edge in the third chukker. Olympia players also made their presence felt as they managed to get 30 and 60 yard penalties, which were successfully converted by their 6-goaler Nicolar Corti to reduce the margin to 5-2.
Mir Huzaifa, who is an emerging and talented young player in Pakistan polo, started the fourth and last chukker with fantabulous field goal to further enhance Diamond Paints/Newage lead to 6-2. In the dying moments of the match, Nicolas Corti got a chance to convert a 30-yard penalty, which he successfully did to complete his hat-trick and also helped his side further reduce the deficit to 6-3. But this was all, Olympia could get from the match as Diamond Paints/Newage won the match by 6-3½. Nicolas Scortichini and Martin Jhon Henry supervised the match as field umpires.
In the eight-chukker second match of the day, Barry’s took 7-5½ lead against Master Paints Black in the first phase of four chukker. Bautista Bayuger played phenomenal role in his side’s dominance over their opponents, as he was in sublime form and scored a quartet for Barry’s while his teammates Raja Mikael Sami contributed with a brace and Raja Samiullah with a goal. The losing side, which had one and a half goal handicap, Matias Vial Parez scored a hat-trick and Ahmed Ali Tiwana hit one goal.
Bautista had an impressive start for Barry’s with a field goal to give them 1-0 lead, which couldn’t last long as Matias struck an equalizer to level the score at 1-1. Bautista continued his good show in the second chukker as well, where he once again fired in a field goal to give his side upper hand, but once against it was Matias, who smashed in another equalizer to square the things at 2-2. Barry’s continued their struggle to score more and at last, they succeeded in converting a field goal trhough Raja Mikael to finish the chukker having 3-2 lead.
The third chukker began with both the sides looking for prevailing over each other and this time, Master Paints Black managed to pump in an equalizer to draw the blood at 3-3. Barry’s players were in no mood to let their opponents play freely and score more, so they started playing attacking polo, which helped them hammer an impressive hat-trick and take a healthy 6-3 lead. This time, contribution came from Raja Mikael, Bautista and Raja Sami, who contributed with one goal apiece.
Bautista continued his good show in the fourth and last chukker as well as he fired in another field goal to further enhance Barry’s lead to 7-3. Matias once again came to the rescue of Master Paints Black by banging in a field goal to make it 7-4, but his efforts were futile in the end, as his side, which had one and a half goal handicap, lost the match by 5½-7. Nicolas Scortchini and Martin Jhon Henry officiated the match as field umpires.
