2017 NPA LAGOS POLO
Kano H Hago edged Lagos Balmoral International 6 1/2 – 6 in the Low Cup as the final week of the 2017 NPA Lagos International Polo Tournament sponsored by GTBank commenced on Tuesday.
Lagos La Mansuri also got off to a flying start in the Low Cup with an 8 – 3 1/2 win over Ibadan Oluyole with Ibrahim Musa Dantala, the MVP of the Silver Cup during the first week, influencing an impressive win for the home side.
In the Balmoral-Hago match watched by the Managing Director of GTBank, Segun Agbaje, the visitors – formed by Sarki Waziri (0), Tata Alikura (+2), Baccha Mustapha (+2) and Yusuf Ibrahim Katako (+2), took initiative and won two penalty kicks but were missed by Katako and Alikura, and they were made to pay for their wastefulness by Isa Kwame, who scored the opening goal with a low shot from about 12 yards to give Balmoral, completed by Luqman Adebayo (+1), Kabiru Saidu (+2) and Mohammed Dangote (+1).
Kwame, a three-goaler, was back on the goal line less than thirty seconds after but this time, he puts his low shot off target. Katako puts Hago, who started the match on a half-goal handicap, ahead with a 10 -yard penalty to end the first chukka.
Alikura extended Hago’s lead to 2 1/2 – 1 at the start of the second chukka but another 30-yards miss from him saw them missed the chance of furthering their lead. He amended for the miss in the final minute of the chukka to make scores 3 1/2 – 1 but Adebayo forced the ball over the goal line off a Kwame shot to end the chukka at 3 1/2 – 2.
The penultimate chukka started on a blistering note with Katako scoring Hago’s fourth field goal and the chukka was barely 90 seconds old when Mustapha scored as Hago begin to get out of sight with scores at 5 1/2 – 2.
Isa converted a 40-yarded for 5 1/2 – 3. Alikura’s missed a golden chance failing to convert in front of goal under no challenge.
Dangote pegged the scores to 5 1/2 – 4 in the final chukka. Katako got his third goal for a 6 1/2 – 4 lead but Isa scored twice to set up a tense finale.However there was no time left for further goals to the relief of Hago and their supporters.
