Ittehad Punjab Polo Cup 2021: BN Polo wins historic trophy

LAHORE (APP): BN Polo beat Diamond Paints by 6-5 in nail-biting final played here at the Lahore Polo Club ground on Sunday.

The hero of the day from the winning team was Juan Maria Ruiz, who contributed with a classic hat-trick, while Eulogio Celestino and Raja Mikail Sami converted two and one goal respectively. For Diamond Paints, Raul Laplacette cracked a quartet while Mir Huzaifa Ahmed scored one.

BN Polo team started the final with a field go to take 1-0 lead in the first chukker. Diamond Paints made a tremendous comeback in the second chukker by thrashing two back-to-back goals to earn a slight 2-1 lead. Both the sides played well in the third chukker and managed to convert a brace each, with Diamond Paints still enjoying a narrow 4-3 lead.

Diamond Paints converted one more goal in the beginning of the fourth chukker to enhance their lead to 5-3. But BN team bounced back in great style and slammed in two back-to-back to goals to draw the score at 5-all.

No further goal was scored and the final was then decided in the sudden death chukker, where Eulogio Celestino smashed in the match-winning goal to guide his side to 6-5 title victory. Nicolas Scortichini and Marcelo Garrahan supervised the final as field umpires.

Ittehad Textile CEO Nazim Shahzad Sheikh graced the prize distribution ceremony as chief guest and gave away trophies and shields to the winners and top performers. Other prominent ones present there were Saira Rizwan, Lahore Polo Club President Omer Sadik, Executive Committee members Agha Murtaza Ali Khan, Shah Qubilai Alam, Feroz Gulzar, Usman Haye, Saqib Khan Khakwani, Agha Najeeb Raza, Secretary Lt Col (r) Mudassar Sharif, foreign and top national polo players and their families.