National Open Polo C’ship for Quaid-i-Azam Gold Cup 2018: Losada leads Master Paints/Rizvi’s to title victory

LAHORE: It was the combined unit of Master Paints and Rizvi’s that turned out to be the national champions in a close context of attrition with Barry’s in the final to claim the Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup 2018 here at the Lahore Polo Club on Sunday.

The final of country’s most prestigious tournament National Open Polo Championship for Quaid-i-Azam Gold Cup 2018 was played between Masters-Rizvi’s and Barry’s and the result produced in favour of the former 9-8 here at the Aibak ground.

Juan Cruz Losada was the star of the day after he produced a flurry of seven goals to not only win the trophy for Masters but also won the man of the final award while the two remaining goals were struck by Hamza Mawaz Khan and Farooq Amin Sufi.From the losing end, Juan Maria Ruiz Tito hammered six goals with one each coming from Bilal Haye and Ramiro Zavaleta hit one goal each.

Governor Punjab Rafiq Rajwana graced the final as chief guest and distributed prizes among the winners. Lahore Polo Club President Irfan Ali Hyder and a great number of polo enthusiasts were also present there. Both the finalists remained at even keel by the time fifth chukker was near finish but Losada produced winning goal through a 60 yard hit for Masters to draw a well deserved win.

Barry’s took the lead with two goals that came through a 40 yarder from Tito and the other with a field move from Bilal. Masters responded with two goals – a spot penalty and a field goal that came from Losada and Hamza and in between Barry’s got a lead when Romiro had a successful 30 yard hit. Barry’s were in well control of the match by the start of the third quarter. Tito’s 30 yard hit got Barry’s their fifth goal. Losada’s spot penalty though reduced the margin but Tito’s field goal kept things the same way.

The fourth chukker was the most active of all in which six goals were scored – five by Masters and one by Barry’s. here Masters for the first surpassed Barry’s score and when the chukker finished it was Masters which was leading by 8-6. Losada’s four back to back goals including a hat-trick and a field goal mastered by Losada and converted by Farood Amin Sufi were enough to show their supremacy. Tito did tried his best and came up with one goals in the same chukker but still his team lagged behind.

Tito maintained his momentum in the fifth chukker to bring the score ay even keel with two yarder hits but Losada with his yarder hit nailed the win. Haward George Smith and Jason Dixon were the umpires and Gerardo Mazani was the referee.

In the subsidiary final, Diamond Paints beat Army 9-6. For the winning team Marcos scored four goals, Mir Huzaifa Ahmed three and Mumtaz Abbas Niazi one. From Army Deigo got three, Brig Zulfiqar two and Khawan Croz one.