A star-studded Diamond Paints clinched the Bank Alfalah National Open Polo Championship 2016 for the Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup trophy after trouncing spirited Dollar East/Master Paints by 6-4 in the final played at the jam-packed Lahore Polo Club ground on Wednesday.
Bank Alfalah SAM Group Head Bashir Sheikh and pro-chancellor LUMS Syed Babar Ali Shah were chief guests while club President Irfan Ali Hyder, his executive committee members, IOC member in Pakistan Syed Shahid Ali Shah, singer Azmat Ali, players' families and polo enthusiasts were also present there to witness the highly-charged polo event.
Santiago Cernadas stole the show with his sterling performance as he slammed all the six goals and single-handedly steered Diamond Paints to title triumph. Juan Cruz Losada though struggled hard to guide his team to win but his efforts couldn't bear fruit and his team to suffer a 6-4 defeat. Bilal Haye and Hamza Mawaz Khan also hit one goal apiece for the losing side.
Both the teams were in great spirits and had equally capable of winning the title. They were off to flying start in the final but then Losada provided 1-0 lead to Dollar East/Master Paints. No more goal score was converted in the first chukker which ended 1-0 in favour of Dollar East.
The second chukker was equally poised as one-goal each was hammered by both the teams. Santiago struck for Diamond Paints while Bilal Haye hit for Dollar East as the second chukker finished with Dollar East enjoying 2-1 lead.
It was all Santiago in the third chukker as he smashed tremendous three goals - one was spot penalty and two were field goals - which gave 4-2 lead to Diamond Paints. The fourth chukker saw Dollar East bouncing back by scoring two back-to-back goals - one each by Losada and Hamza - to level the score at 4-4. Santiago then showed his class and hammered two back-to-back goals to provide Diamond Paints unbeatable 6-4 lead which remained intact till the final whistle was blown. No goal was scored in the fifth and last chukker.
In the classification match, Master Paints/Habib Metro outclassed Learning Alliance by 9-3 in a one-sided match to secure the third position. oth Hissam Ali Hyder and Pedro Guiterrez displayed quality polo and struck fours goal each in their team's triumph. Sufi Amir also contributed an important goal in the winning side's total tally. For the losing side, Shah Qubilai Alam slammed two goals while Ahmed Ali Tiwana added one but their efforts went in vain as their team had to suffer a thrashing defeat. Agha Murtaza Ali and Major Omer Minhas were field umpires while Bilal Haye was referee.