Honda Polo Cup 2019: Day 1 – Master Paints Black & Master Paints/Guard Group Win

LAHORE: Master Paints Black and Master Paints/Guard Group notched up easy victories in the Honda Polo Cup 2019 opening matches held here at Lahore Polo Club ground on Tuesday.

In the first match of the day, Master Paints Black outlasted EN EM Estate by nine goals to four and a half.

Jami Li Hardi played outstanding polo and emerged as hero of the day for Master Paints Black as he fired in fabulous five goals while Raja Temur Nadeem and Sufi M Haroon banged in a brace each. From the losing side, which had two and a half goal handicap, Bilal Haye and Mumtaz Abbas Niazi scored one goal each.

Right from the beginning, both the sides launched a series of attack on each other’s goal but they failed to score big. But in the dying moment of the first chukker, Master Paints Black opened their account through a spot penalty, converted superbly by Jami Li to finish the chukker having 1-0 lead.

The highly-charged second chukker saw total dominance of Master Paints Black, who pumped in fantastic five goals – two each by Raja Temur and Sufi Haroon and one by Jami Li – to take a healthy 6-1 lead.

Mastet Paints Black maintained their supremacy in the third chukker as they banged in a brace through Jami Li to further enhance their lead to 8-0. They added one more in their tally through Jami, who also completed his five-goal haul, to take unassailable 9-0 lead. EN EM Estate made their presence felt in the dying moments of the match when they managed to slam in two goals – one each by Bilal Haye and Mumtaz Abbas – to finish the match at 9-2. With two and a half goal handicap for EN EM Estate, Master Paints Black won the match by nine goals to four and a half.

Master Paints/Guard Group were winners of the second match of the day, who thumped Barry’s by 7-3. Juan Cruz Losada showed his class against one of the strongest teams of the event and slammed in all the seven goals, his team scored so far, to emerge as star of the day for Master Paints/Guard Group while from the losing side, Raja Samiullah struck two goals and Raja Mikael Sami contributed with one goal.

Lahore Polo Club 2018-19: Delayed Season Starts 29th Jan.; Zameen Polo Cup 

Barry’s were off to flying start as they comverted two impressive goals through Raja Sami to take 2-0 lead. Losada then got a chance to convert a 30-yard penalty, which he successfully did to reduce the margin to 2-1.

It was all alone Losada, who smashed in all the three goals scored in the third chukker so far, as first he converted a 30-yard penalty and then fired in two field goals to give his side 3-2 edge.

The third was also dominated by Master Paints/Guard Group, who pumped in three goals against one by Barry’s. It was once again Losada, who hammered a hat-trick to complete his seven-goal haul and also enhanced his team’s lead to 7-2 while Raja Mikael struck one for Barry’s to make it 7-3. When the final whistle was blown, Master Paints/Guard Group were enjoying 7-3 lead, thus emerged as winners of the match.

On Wednesday:

• Olympia/Momin Ghee will play against EN EM Estate in the first match at 2:00 pm.
• In the second match at 3:00 pm, Newage/Diamond Paints will vie against Barry’s.