LAHORE: Master Paints clinched the Lt. Gen. Shah Rafi Alam Memorial Polo Cup after winning the nail batting final against Diamond Paints/FG Polo by 8 1/2-8 mainly due to their half goal handicap in the thrilling final played here at the Lahore Polo Club ground on Sunday.

Marcos Panelo emerged as the hero of the winning side, as he has lion’s share of seven-goal to make the victory possible. The winners also had half goal handicap advantage.

The remaining one came from Raja Jalal Arslan. From the losing side, Tom Brodie, also fought well contributing seven goals but the half goal handicap proved decisive. was the man who struck splendid seven goals and Mian Abbas Mukhtar scored one but their efforts proved futile in the end as Master Paints won the final by a margin of a half goal, 8.5-8.

The winners were offensive from the first word go as they fired in fabulous four goals while in the dying moments of the first chukker, Master Paints converted one to reduce the margin 4 1/2-1. The second chukker was evenly poised where both the teams succeeded in thrashing two goals each but Diamond Paints were still enjoying 6 1/2-3 lead.

Master Paints turned the tables of the final in the third chukker, where they fully dominated and thrashed in four back-to-back goals against one by Diamond Paints to make it 7 1/2-7. In the fourth and last chukker, Master Paints converted one more goal to gain a slight 8 1/2-7 lead, but Diamond Paints continued to struggle hard and their efforts paid dividend when they managed to convert a 30-yard penalty to equalise the score at 8-all, but half-goal handicap proved the decider.

In the subsidiary final, Samba Bank outpaced D Polo 6 1/2-4. From Samba Bank, which had a half goal handicap advantage, Turab Rizvi and Edward Banner Eve hammered a hat-trick each while from the losing side, Abdul Rehman Monnoo struck all the four goals.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2020