Lieutenant-General Shah Rafi Alam Memorial Polo Cup begins

Sister teams, Master Paints and Master Paints Black, won the opening matches of the Lt Gen Shah Rafi Alam Memorial Polo Cup 2019 played here at the Lahore Polo Club (LPC) ground on Tuesday.

In the first match of the day, Master Paints outscored Samba Bank by 7-51/2. From the winning side, Mariano Regal emerged as top scorer with four goals while Farooq Amin Sufi, Raja Jalal Arslan and Bilal Haye contributed one goal each. The losing side had one and a half goal handicap advantage, while Edward Banner Eve converted four more goals for them.

Master Paints dominated the match right from the word go as they converted two back-to-back goals to take 2-0 lead, which was soon reduced to 2-1 by Samba Bank. Master Paints once again prevailed over Samba Bank as they thrashed two more goals against one by Samba Bank to enjoy 4-2 lead. The only goal of the third chukker was scored by Samba Bank, which helped them reduce the deficit to 4-3.

In the highly-charged fourth and last chukker, Master Paints once again stamped their authority and succeeded in hammering a hat-trick of goals to gain a healthy 7-4 edge while Samba Bank, having one and a half goal handicap, converted one goal to finish the match at 7-51/2 in favour of Master Paints.

In the second match of the day, Master Paints Black thumped Barry's by 10-31/2. Manuel Carranze was hero of the day from the winning side, as he hit a quartet and Sufi Muhammad Amir also played superb polo and hammered a hat-trick while Ahmed Zubair Butt banged in a brace and Ahmed Ali Tiwana hit a goal. From the losing side, which had half goal handicap advantage, Ernesto Trotz struck all the three goals.

Barry's started the match well a field goal to take 1-0, which couldn't last long as Master Paints Black struck an equalizer to make it 1-all. Just before the end of the first chukker, Barry's added one more in their tally to stretching their lead to 2-1. Master Paints Black fully dominated the second chukker and fired in fabulous five goals to gain a healthy 6-2 edge.

Master Paints Black continued their dominance in the third chukker as well by hitting a hat-trick to make it 9-2. In the fourth and last chukker, both the sides converted one goal each. With half goal handicap advantage for Barry's, Master Paints Black won the match by 10-31/2.