Lahore Garrison Polo Championship 2018: FG Team Clinches Trophy
LAHORE: FG Polo team clinched the trophy after beating EFU Life 7-6 in the thrilling final of the Lahore Garrison Polo Championship 2018 sponsored by Zameen.com here at Fortress Stadium.
Hamza Mawaz Khan was the key contributor from the winning side as he fired in fabulous four goals while he was ably assisted by his teammate Eulogio Celestino who contributed with a tremendous hat-trick. From the losing side, which fought till the end and lost the final by just one goal margin, the main contribution came from Edward Banner Eve who hammered a hat-trick while Raja Temur Nadeem converted a brace and Syed M Aun Rizvi hit one.
EFU opened their account by converting a 60-yard penalty through Edward to take 1-0 lead. But FG team fought back well and thwarted three back-to-back goals – two by Hamza Mawaz and one by Eulogio – to have 3-1 lead. In the dying moments, Raja Temur struck one for EFU to finish the first chukker at 3-2.
The second chukker saw EFU banging in two back-to-back goals – one goal each by Aun Rizvi and Edward – to have 4-3 lead which couldn’t last long as FG bounced back well and slammed in an impressive brace through Hamza and Eulogio to take back 5-4 lead.
In the third chukker, a royal battle was witnessed as EFU first struck one through Raja Temur to level the score at 5-5 but then Hamza converted a 30-yard penalty to once again provide 6-5 lead. Edward came from behind to fired in a field goal to square the things at 6-6. In the dying moments of the third chukker, Eulogio malleted match-winning goal – as no goal was scored by either side in third and fourth chukker – to guide FG Polo team a narrow 7-6 victory.
Major Shayan Abbasi and Nicholas Ruiz Ghuinazi supervised the match as field umpires.
In the subsidiary final, BBJ beat PBG/Remounts by eight goals to seven and half. From the winning side, Bilal Haye and Ahmed Zubair Butt hammered a hat-trick each while Maj Adil Sultan Rao and Mumtaz Abbas Dabboo contributed one goal apiece. From the losing side, which had half goal handicap advantage, Saqib Rider and Nicholas Ruiz Guinazu slammed in a hat-trick each while Lt Col Rab Nawaz Tiwana hit one goal.
In concluding ceremony the patron of FG polo team Mian Abbas Muktar while speaking to the media said that “his team is new but he is very energetic to play polo and hoped the FG polo will continue to be involved in the polo arena.”
Zameen.com vice chairman Brig (R) Haroon Malik was the chief guest and distributed prizes and shields among the winners and top performers. Lahore Garrison Polo Club Secretary Col (R) Shoaib Aftab, Zameen.com officials were also present on the occasion to witness the final.
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