LAHORE - Master Paints qualified for the semifinals of the Century Ventures National Open Polo Championship for Quaid-e- Azam Gold Cup 2023 here at the Lahore Polo Club. The fourth semifinalist will be decided on penalty shootouts among the three teams today (Thursday). In the first match of the day, Master Paints defeated HN Polo by 12-6. From the winning side, Manuel Crespo smashed superb six goals while Pelayo Berrazadi hammered a hat-trick, Sufi M Haroon scored a brace and Agha Musa Ali Khan hit one goal. For HN Polo, Raja Mikael Sami thrashed in three goals, Santiago Loza struck two and Haider Naseem hit one. Master Paints started the match in great style as they converted a field goal to take a 1-0 lead. HN Polo made a strong comeback with three back-to-back goals to gain a 3-1 lead. Master Paints scored the only goal of the second chukker to make it 2-3 and then hammered a hat-trick in the third chukker to get back a 5-3 lead.
ANF seizes drugs, nab peddlers in countrywide operations
In the fourth chukker, HN Polo bounced back in style and thrashed in three goals against one by Master Paints to level the score at 6-6. The fifth and decisive chukker saw total dominance of Master Paints, who smashed in superb six goals to win the match by 12-6 and also qualified for the semifinals. In the second match of the day, Diamond Paints missed the opportunity to directly qualify for semifinals as they lost the important match against FG Polo by 4-6. For FG Polo, Juan Ambroggio hammered three goals while Mian Abbas Mukhtar struck a brace and Ramiro Zavaleta hit one. For Diamond Paints, ChuloCorti cracked a brace while Ahmed Ali Tiwana and Mir Huzaifa Ahmed hit one goal each. FG Polo made a good start with two back-to-back goals to earn a 2-0 lead. They added two more goals in the second chukker to have a 4-0 lead but Diamond Paints then made their presence felt by converting three back-to-back goals to reduce the deficit to 3-4. FG Polo scored the only goal of the third chukker to stretch their lead to 5-3. In the fourth chukker, Diamond Paints struck one more to reduce the margin to 4-5 but FG Polo added one more in their tally, taking their lead to 6-4. No more goals were scored after that, thus FG Polo winning the match by 6-4.
Century Ventures National Open Polo Championship for Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup: Master Paints breeze into semifinals