2018 LAGOS POLO TOURNAMENT
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By Duro Ikhazuagbe
The 2018 Lagos Polo International Tournament came to an exciting end yesterday with Lagos Fifth Chukker/ Access Bank winning the club’s most cherished Majekodunmi Cup after upstaging Kaduna Keffi Pony’s 9 – 6.
The home teams had a great day as Lagos A Plus/DDSS also emerged champions of the Low Cup by edging Kano Hamdan 6 – 5 1/2 goals.
Before the final game galloped off, the organisers of this edition added class and glamour by ensuring that the newly refurbished Majekodunmi Cup in London was delivered to the club President, Mr Ade Laoye, at the centre of the pitch by a Carveton helicopter.
That singular action heighten the anxiety of polo aficionados who wanted to know which of the two teams will walk away with the silverware first donated to the club by Dr Moses Majekodunmi in 1962.
The 11-day of high-class polo action, which has GTBank as main sponsor, climaxed with the clash between Lagos Fifth Chukker/ Access Bank and the KadunaKeffi Ponys.
The visiting team went into the six-chukker tie with two goals advantage and that increased to three when team patron, Hon Ahmed Wadada tapped in a shot from about 20 yards early in the first chukker.
The Ponys’ which also has Idris Badamasi (+3), Patricio Cieza (+6) and Juan Cruz (+7) were seeking to avoid another loss having fell in their earlier clash on Thursday but Julio Estrada kept Fifth Chukker in touch scoring a diagonal shot to end the opening chukka 3-1.
Argentine seven-goaler, Estrada scored again at the start of second chukka to close the gap and the home team, which also has Babangida Hassan-Katsina (+3), team patron Adamu Attah (+3) and Augustine Canale (+6), drew level in the second chukka through Canale.
However, Ponys kept their heads and scored two more goals in the early stage of the third chukka but Fifth Chukker won’t let go as team patron, Attah and Estrada scored to level scores 5-5 heading to the fourth chukker which eventually ended 6-5 with the Kaduna team in the lead as Cieza scored again.
The final two chukkas, as expected, were fiercely contested, and in the end, it was the higher handicap team that triumphed scoring three more goals by Eatrada, Attah and Canale for a 9 – 6 final scoreline and winner of the Majekodunmi Cup.
In the earlier match played three-goaler, Kwame Issa and Abdulrahman Mohammed (+2) starred as A plus, complete by Habu Jigunu (+1) and team patron, Luqman Adebayo (+1) puts behind them the disappointment of their Open Cup final loss a week earlier to end their campaign on a memorable note by winning the Arbico-sponsored medium-goal event.
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