Lt. Gen. Shah Rafi Alam Memorial Polo Cup 2018: Newage/Diamond In Final

LAHORE: Newage/Diamond stunned high-flying EFU Life three and half goals to three to qualify for the main final of the Lt. Gen. Shah Rafi Alam Memorial Polo Cup 2018 sponsored by Al-Khair Group here at Lahore Polo Club ground.

With this win Newage/Diamond will contest FG Polo team in the finals to be played on 16th December, Sunday.

The match ended at 3-3 draw and in the end, it was half goal handicap advantage, which helped Newage/Diamond Paints register three and half goal to three victory and also booked berth in the main final. It was Newage’s Antonino Menard who played key role in his team’s triumph as he not only converted one goal but also helped his team and teammates to score crucial goals.

The first two chukkers of the match were dominated by EFU Life as they converted one goal in first chukker and two in the second chukker. Aun Rizvi opened the account of EFU through his field goal and then Raja Temur Nadeem doublee their lead in the second chukker when he fired in a fabulous field goal. Aun completed the hat-trick of EFU’s goal making it 3-0. Before the end of the second chukker, Adnan Jalil smashed in a field goal for Newage/DP to reduce margin to 3-1.

Despite a number of attacks launched by both the sodes, the third chukker remained goalless. The fourth and last chukker saw total dominance of Newage/Diamond Paints as they banged in a brace through Antonino Menard and Alman Jalil Azam to square the things at 3-3. After that both the sides tried their best to convert the match-winning goal but their efforts proved fruitless, as when the final whistle was blown, the score was tied at 3-3 and the half goal handicap helped Newage/Diamond Paints win the match by 3 and half to 3.

Nicholas Pepper and Abdul Rehman Monnoo supervised the match as field umpires.

In another match of the day, Team Eighteen defeated Total Nutrition by a narrow margin of 7-6 to qualify for the subsidiary final.

Ahmed Ali Tiwana emerged as hero of the day as he hammered fantabulous five goals for the winning sode while Shahnawaz Durrani and Mumtaz Abbas Niazi struck one goal apiece. From the losing side, Ahmed Bilal Riaz and Bilal Haye thwarted two goals each while Omer Minhas and  Ahmed Zubair Butt contributed one goal apiece.

Nicholas Maria Ruiz and Raja Temur Nadeem officiated the match as field umpires.

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