LAHORE, Feb 20: Another heroic performance from ace Jose Rivas helped ABN Amro Bank to keep their top position in the national polo championship after registering a nail-biting 9-8 win against Emaar on Wednesday.

Rivas scored seven goals including the decisive one in the fifth chukker as a defeat in the match could have relegated the bankers to the second spot and Emaar to first.

Rivas put the winners 2-1 ahead in the first chukker alone but seven-goal Diego White reduced the margin for the losing side. The second chukker was dominated by Rivas, adding two more to strengthen the lead by 4-1. And it was 5-2 in the third chukker as Rivas and White hit one each for their teams.

But White was in perfect form in the fourth chukker, bringing the one-sided encounter to a nail-biting position, scoring three in a row to make it 5-5. And when White’s team mate Sattar Niazi scored one, Emaar were 6-5 ahead for the first time in the match. But soon two-goal Hissam Ali Hyder restored the parity to 6-6 before the chukker was closed.

The situation fluctuated in the eventful fifth chukker as both teams scored one after another to be locked at 8-8 in the dying moments of the match before Rivas hit the winner.

The win increased the bankers point tally to 10 as they have won all of their five matches, scoring 50 goals while conceding 32.

Meanwhile, three-goals each by Shah Shamyl Alam and Juan Garcia Grossi helped defending champions Bank Alfalah beat Guard Rice/Al Khan 9-5 to gain the second position with 8 points from five matches -- four wins and one defeat.

Shaukat Ali Malik and Bilal Haye scored two and one for the winners, respectively. Raja Samiullah contributed two goals while Manuel Crespo, Taimur Ali Malik, Iftikhar Ali Khan added one each for the losing side.