LAHORE: BN Polo Team outpaced PBG Risala by 7-4 in The Lotus Aibak Polo Cup 2020 match at Lahore Polo Club ground. In the other match, Guard Group/Artema Medical took 6.5-4 lead over Pebble Breakers after completion of four chukkers out of eight chukkers.
In the first match of the day, BN Polo Team was up against PBG Risala. Both the sides played well against each other and after a tough fight, BN Polo Team won the encounter 7-4.
From BN Team, Juan Maria Ruiz emerged as top scorer by firing in fabulous four goals while Babar Naseem, Ahmed Zubair Butt and Saqib Khan Khakwani slammed in one goal each.
From PBG Risala, Nicholas A Recaite and Hamza Mawaz Khan banged in a brace each. PBG started the match in great style as they converted two back-to-back goals to gain 2-0 lead. Hamza Mawaz Khan and Nicholas A Recaite were the scorers. BN Polo Team fought back well and converted a 30-yard penalty successfully through Juan Maria Ruiz to reduce the margin to 2-1. The second chukker was fully dominated by BN Team as they banged in a brace – one each by Saqib Khan Khakwani and Ahmed Zubair Butt – to take 3-2 lead. The third chukker saw BN Team playing better polo and converting three goals against one by PBG Risala to further enhance their lead to 6-3. Juan Maria Ruiz struck both goals for BN Team while Hamza scored one for PBG. In the fourth and last chukker, PBG converted a 30-yard penalty through Nicholas A Recaite to further reduce the deficit to 6-4 but it was all that they could get from the match as BN Team fired in a field to win the match by 7-4.
The second match of the day saw Guard Group/Artema Medical having 6.5-4 edge over Pebble Breakers.
From Guard Group, which had two and a half goal handicap advantage, Taimur Ali Malik thrashed in two goals while Daniyal Shaikh and Raja Taimur Nadeem hit one goal apiece.
From Pebble Breakers, Ahmed Ali Tiwana hammered a hat-trick while Juan Cruz Losada scored one goal. Both the teams though launched a series of attacks on each other’s goals yet they failed to convert a single goal and the first chukker remained goalless. The second chukker saw the dominance of Pebble Breakers, who hammered a hat-trick of goals to gain 3-0 lead. But after that, Guard Group played superbly and first banged in a brace in the third chukker to make it 3-2 and then smashed in another brace in the fourth and last chukker to gain 4-3 lead, which couldn’t last long as Pebble Breakers also converted one to square the things at 4-all, which remained intact till the final whistle. With two and a half goal handicap advantage, Guard Group won the match by 6.5-4.
