Master Paints, DS Polo win Master Paints Jinnah Gold Cup 2021 openers

Master Paints and DS Polo/ ASC recorded victories in the Master Paints Jinnah Gold Cup 2021 openers played at the Jinnah Polo and Country Club (JP&CC), Lahore.

Marcos Panelo's heroics helped Master Paints beat Remounts by a narrow margin of 5 1/2-5 in the first encounter of the opening day. Panelo was top scorer with a hat-trick while Juan Cruz Losada and Mumtaz Abbas Niazi scored one goal each. For Remounts, Ignacio Negri cracked a quartet and Vieri Antinori struck one.

The first match of the started with Master Paints having a half goal handicap advantage while they added three more back-to-back goals in their tally to take it to 3 1/2-0. Master Paints added one more in their account in the beginning of the second chukker to enhance their lead to 4 1/2-0. Remounts then made their presence felt by converting two back-to-back goals to reduce the margin to 4 1/2-2. Master Paints ended the second chukker in style by firing in a field goal to further stretch their lead to 5 1/2-2. The third chukker was fully dominated by Remounts, who hammered a hat-trick of goals to reduce the deficit to 5 1/2-5, but they couldn't convert more goals in the remaining third chukker as well as fourth and last one, thus lost the match by 5-5 1/2.

Hissam Ali Hyder and Max Charlton fired in fabulous five goals each to guide DS Polo/ASC to an emphatic 10-7 1/2 triumph over Newage/Rizvi's in the second match of the opening day. For Newage/Rizvi's, which had a half goal handicap advantage, Salvador Ulloa and Salvador Jauretche converted three goal apiece while Adnan Jalil Azam struck one.

Newage/Rizvi's, having a half goal handicap advantage, were off to flying start as they hammered a hat-trick to gain a good 3 1/2-0 lead. DS Polo/ASC though converted one to reduce the margin to 3 1/2-1 yet Newage/Rizvi's slammed in one more to further enhance their lead to 4 1/2-1. The second chukker was evenly poised, where both the sides converted two goals each, with Newage/Rizvi's still enjoying 6 1/2-3 lead.

DS Polo/ASC turned the tables of the match in the third chukker, where they hammered a hat-trick against one by Newage/Rizvi's to make 7 1/2-6. DS Polo/ASC dominated the fourth and last chukker by firing in fabulous four goals to win the match by 10-7 1/2.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), three matches will be contested. The first will be played at 2:00 pm between FG Polo and BN Polo, the second one will see Diamond Paints vying against Master Paints Black at 3:00 pm while Master Paints will compete against Risala in the third encounter of the day at 4:00 pm.