Daily Times

LAHORE: Remington Pharma and Diamond Paints won the opening day matches of the 3rd Allama Iqbal Polo Tournament, sponsored by Lahore Smart City, at Jinnah Polo Fields here on Tuesday. The first match of the day proved to be a one-sided affair, where Remington Pharma outclassed BN Polo by 10-2½. Hamza Mawaz Khan played the hero’s role in his team’s triumph with a phenomenal contribution of eight excellent goals while Basel Faisal Khokhar and Ahmad Bilal Riaz struck one goal each. From BN Polo, who had a half goal handicap advantage, Baber Naseem and Haider Naseem converted one goal each.

Remington Pharma were off to a flying start as they banged in a brace to gain 2-0 lead but BN Polo struck one to reduce it to 2-1. But in the dying moments of the first chukker, Remington Pharma converted one more to stretch their lead to 3-1. The second and third chukkers were fully dominated by Remington Pharma as they slammed in two and three goals respectively in both the chukkers. The last chukker saw both the sides scoring one goal each with Remington Pharma emerging as winners by 10-2½. John Fisher and Ahmad Khan officiated the match as field umpires.

The second encounter proved a thrilling one as Diamond Paints defeated Inara Polo-Black Horse Paints by a narrow margin of 4-3. Nico Roberts was the hero of the day from the winning team as he thrashed in three brilliant goals while the remaining one came from Bilal Hayat Noon. From Inara Polo-Black Horse Paints, Hissam Ali Hyder smashed in all the three goals. Inara Polo-Black Horse Paints started the match well by firing in a field goal and converted one more in the beginning of the third chukker as no goal was scored in the second chukker. Diamond Paints then made their presence felt and dominated the third chukker with three back-to-back goals to gain a slight 3-2 lead. The decisive fourth chukker saw both the teams scoring one goal apiece, thus Diamond Paints emerging as winners with a close margin of 4-3. John Fisher and Raja Jalal Arslan supervised the match as field umpires.