LAHORE, Jan 8: Five goals by Malik Asif Yar Tiwana played a key role in a grand six goals rally which helped En-Vogue to recover and beat Remounts Whites 9-7 on the opening day of the Venture Cup Polo Tournament at the Lahore Polo Club ground on Tuesday.
In other match of the day, Borjan outclassed Guard Rice 7-3 Two goals were awarded to the losing side on handicap.
Besides Tiwana, the other chief scorer for En-Vogue was Shah Qublai Alam who struck three goals while Kamran added one goal.
For Remounts Whites, Captain Haseeb Minhas fought hard and scored four goals. Ahmad Khan and Husain Iftikhar added two and one goal, respectively.
Remounts Whites made an impressive start and led the first chukker 4-2. En-Vogue staged a come back and scored six goals in a row in the second and third chukker to gain an 8-4 lead and then maintained it till the final hooter.
The match was started in stormy fashion as six goals were scored with Remounts Whites came out with 4-2 lead. Captain Haseeb put Remount Whites ahead by converting a spot penalty near the goal post. But Qublai Alam soon restored the parity by scoring a field goal. Haseeb again came to earn a 3-1 lead for his team by scoring two back to back goals. Later Tiwana scored his first goal with a long lofted shot before Husain Iftikhar struck his lone goal for the losers to make it 4- 2 at the end of the first chukker.
En-Vogue started the recovery operation from the second chukker and Kamran struck a field goal. Soon Qublai Alam also scored a field goal to make it 4-all. Tiwana scored two quick goals before the chukker was closed to give En-Vogue 6-4 lead.
In the third chukker, Tiwana completed his hat trick by scoring a field goal before Qublai Alam added his third goal which gave En-Vogue a commanding 8-4 lead. Remount Whites scored two goals through Ahmad Khan and Captain Haseeb before Tiwana netted his fifth goal for En-Vogue to end the third chukker with a 9-6 lead.
In the fourth chukker only one goal was scored and that was by Ahmad Khan (Remounts) to make the tally.
En-Vogue: Kamran Nooruddin (0), Taimur Mawaz Khan (2), Malik Asif Yar Tiwana (3), Shah Qublai Alam (3).
Remount Whites: Captain Shehryar (1), Ahmad Khan (3), Captain Haseeb Minhas (3), Husain Iftikhar (1).
Three goals by Umar Sadiq enabled Borjan to beat Guard Rice by a margin of 7-3.
No goal was scored in the first chukker.
Sadiq drew first blood by converting a 60 yard penalty hit in the second chukker. Saqib Khakwani doubled it before his team-mate Irfan Ali Hyder made it 3-0 at the end of the second chukker.
In the third chukker Sadiq further increased the lead by scoring two quick goals before Saqib Mawaz Khan struck his first goal to make it 6-0.
Guard Rice scored the solitary goal in the third chukker through Taimur Malik before Mawaz Khan scored his second goal for the winners to make the tally (7-3).
No goal was scored in the fourth chukker.
Borjan: Irfan Ali Hyder (2), Saqib Khan Khakwani (2), Saqib Mawaz Khan (3), Umar sadiq (1).
Guard Rice: Taimur Malik (-2), DR IA Khan (2), Haseeb Mehta (2), Raja Sattar (3).