Army Whites make it to Spring Polo final

LAHORE: Army Whites Friday outplayed Diamond Paints Black 7-2 to qualify for the main final of the Spring Polo Cup 2018 here at the Lahore Polo Club ground.

Brig Zulfiqar Ali Baig was the man in form who played quality polo and hammered a hat-trick in his team’s triumph while Major Omer Minhas scored a brace and Ignasio Negri and Major Haseeb Minhas contributed one goal apiece. From the losing side, Eulogio Celestino thwarted two goals.

Brig Zulfiqar started the match in great style as he thwarted two back-to-back goals to give Army Whites a healthy 2-0 lead in the first chukker. Ingnasio Negri then converted a 30-yard penalty to enhance Army Whites lead to 3-0. Another fantastic field goal came from in-form Brig Zulfiqar which further increased their lead to 4-0. In the dying moments of the second chukker, Eulogio Celestino fired a field goal to make it 4-1.

The third chukker saw both the teams struggling for scoring more and more goals and this time Army’s Major Haseeb put further misery on Diamond Paints by pumping in a field goal which gave them healthy 5-1 edge. Eulogio once again came from behind to convert another impressive field goal to reduce the margin to 5-2 just before the end of the third chukker.

It was all alone Major Omer Minhas in the fourth and last chukker, who banged in a brilliant brace to provide Army White an insurmountable lead which remained intact till the end of the match, thus they won the match by 7-2. Juan Maria and Raja Arslan Najeeb officiated the match as field umpires while Saqib Khan Khakwani was match referee.

Two crucial matches of the tournament will be conducted today (Saturday), as Barry’s will vie against Rizvi’s/Master Paints at 1:15 pm while Newage/Guard Group will play against Master Paints Black at 2:15 pm.