Newage/Master Paints and Barry's carved out sensational victories in the five-chukker in Bank Alfalah National Open Polo Championship for Quaid-i-Azam Gold Cup 2017 here at the jam-packed Lahore Polo Club ground on Sunday.
Both Hissam Ali Hyder and Juan Cruz Losada played outstanding polo and amused the spectators with their brilliant skills and stick work.
In the end, Hissam emerged as top scorer by firing fabulous five goals while Losada banged in two impressive goals. From the losing side, Ahmed Ali Tiwana, struck two, was also in sublime form and gave his opponents tough time but his team fail to score victory. Andres Crispo and Bilal Haye also hit one goal apiece.
In the high-voltage encounter of the day, Newage/Master Paints prevailed right from the start as they scored a brace in the first chukker - Losada and Hissam converted one goal apiece. The second chukker also saw dominance of Newage as they thwarted three more to have an unbeatable 5-0 lead. Hissam struck a brace and Losada one. In the dying moment of the chukker, Bilal Haye scored a field goal to open Master Paints account, finishing the chukker at 5-1.
Master Paints (Black) staged a comeback in the third chukker, as they thwarted two goals - one each by Andres Crispo and Ahmed Tiwana - to reduce the deficit to 5-3. But Hissam's heroics once again give Newage 6-3 edge before ending of the third chukker. In the fourth chukker, Ahmed Tiwana once again brought Master Paints into the match by scoring a field goal, reducing the margin to 6-4, but they couldn't add more goals. It was all that Master Paints could get from the match, as Newage slammed one more goal through Hissam to finish the match, having 7-4 lead. Howard George Smith and Timothy John Bown officiated the match as field umpires.
Barry's started the inaugural encounter with a thrashing 10-4 triumph over Ravi Autos. Raja Samiullah and George Meyrick were stars of the day as both thwarted three goals each while Hamza Mawaz Khan and Nafees contributed with two goals each. From the losing the side, all the four goals were converted by Guy Gibrat. Foreign umpires Howard George Smith and Timothy John Bown supervised the match as field umpires.