Sports Bulletin Report
LAHORE: The Lahore Smart City Polo in Pink Tournament rolled into action here at the Lahore Polo Club ground on Tuesday.
“The Lahore Polo Club organizes Polo in Pink every year for a charity event which aims to raise awareness about breast cancer in women. This year too, Lahore Smart City Polo in Pink Tournament is being organized by the club for this noble cause,” said LPC President Umar Sadiq, while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday. Other notables present on the occasion were LPC Secretary Agha Murtaza Ali Khan, Lahore Smart City Chief Operating Officer Imran Zahid, Chief Finance Officer Zahid Arif, Head of Pink Ribbon Pakistan Umar Aftab, Executive Committee member Usman Haye and women players from different countries.
LPC Secretary Agha Murtaza Ali Khan said that total 11 teams have been taking part in the tournament, which have been divided into two pools. Each team also includes foreign players. “Two players are from America, Laurel Howe and Danielle Lussi while Marion Dierickx is from Belgium, Phillip Henry from Australia and Jessica Schnieder and Jane Buchan from Canada. Eesha Haye, Fatima Mazhar, Isra Zeeshan, Raqia Mansoor, while Sofia Deana Khan belongs to Pakistan and Ukraine.
“Teams in Pool A include Haye Squad, Zacky Farms Reapers, FG/Din Polo, The Eagles and Lahore Smart City while Pool B teams are Platinum Homes, Lotto Carpets Singapore, Newage Cables, Pebble Breakers, Black Horse Paints and Remington Pharma/Guard Group,” he added.
Sharing his views, Lahore Smart City COO Imran Zahid said: “We always support good causes. Pink Ribbon and Lahore Polo Club are promoting a good cause which we are fully supporting and we will continue to support causes in future.”
Head of Pink Ribbon Pakistan Umar Aftab said that Pink Ribbon has started the OPD of a breast cancer hospital in Lahore. Soon the full hospital will be operational and benefit the patients in this regard. “We are thankful to Lahore Polo Club and Smart City for the support in raising breast cancer awareness among Pakistani women.”
Meanwhile, two matches were played on the opening day of the event, where Haye Squad and FG/Din emerged as winners after recording comprehensive victories.
In the first match of the day, Haye Squad outpaced Zacky Farm Reapers by 10-4½. Usman Haye emerged as hero of the day from Haye Squad as he fired in four fabulous goals while Saqib Khan Khakwani hammered a hat-trick, foreign player Philipa Henry banged in a brace and Ibrahim Khan struck one goal. From Zacky Farm Reapers, which had one and a half goal handicap advantage, Nazar Dean Ali Khan thrashed in two goals and Mian Mustafa Aziz scored one goal.
The second match of the day was a two-chukker match played among three teams including FG/Din, Lahore Smart City and The Eagles. FG/Din won both of their matches to emerge victorious. FG/Din first beat The Eagles by 4-2½ and then outsmarted Lahore Smart City by 7½-1 to win the two-chukker match.
