3rd Allama Iqbal Polo Tournament: Diamond Paints, Master Paints/Newage emerge victorious

Lahore: Diamond Paints and Master Paints/Newage Cables emerged victorious on the sixth day of the 3rd Allama Iqbal Polo Tournament sponsored by Lahore Smart City here at the Jinnah Polo Fields on Sunday. 

In the first match of the day, Diamond Paints defeated Platinum Homes/Master Paints by 8-3½. From the winning team, CEO Diamond Paints Mir Shoaib Ahmed displayed outstanding mallet and polo skills and hammered three tremendous goals while Nico Roberts also converted three goals and Lt Col Omer Minhas banged in a brace. Amirreza Behboudi hammered all the three goals for Platinum Homes/Master, which had a half goal handicap advantage. 

Diamond Paints made a good start by converting one goal each in the first two chukkers to gain a 2-0 lead. In the mid of the second chukker, Platinum Homes/Master Paints made a good comeback, converting two back-to-back goals to equalize the score at 2-2. The third chukker was fully dominated by Diamond Paints as they banged in another brace to take 4-2 while they they fired in four more goals against one by their opponents to win the match by 8-3½.  

The second match took place in the rain which turned out to be very exciting one as Master Paints/Newage Cables edged pass FG/Din Polo by 8-7 in the dying moments of the match. Raja Temur Nadeem smashed in superb six goals while Adnan Jalil Azam struck one goal for Master Paints/Newage. For FG/Din Polo, Saqib Khan Khakwani hammered a hat-trick of goals while Shah Shamyl Alam banged in a brace and Sheikh Muhammad Raffay and Mian Abbas Mukhtar hit one goal each.

The match remained a see-saw battle from the word go till the last moment of the match. FG/Din Polo took a 2-1 lead in the first chukker, which was levelled by Master Paints at 3-3 in the second chukker. FG/Din Polo then managed to take a slight 6-5 lead in the third chukker but Master Paints made a good comeback in the fourth chukker and not only levelled the score at 7-7 but also smashed in the match-winning goal in the dying moment of the match to win it by 8-7.