LAHORE: Nine foreign players are participating in the ongoing Bank Alfalah National Polo Championship for Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup.
“Their participation has added extra spice and thrill besides making the national event challenging and competitive,” stated Lahore Polo Club president Irfan Ali Hyder at a news conference here on Wednesday. Also present on the occasion were sponsors Bank Alfalah regional manager Saqib Ahmad and Bank Alfalah product manager Shaigan Azhar.
The LPC chief said they were delighted that seven players from Argentina, one each from England and Chile are part of the teams taking part in the event, a regular annual feature. “The event is being sponsored by Bank Alfalah for the seventh consecutive year,” he added.
The foreign players are placed in six teams while two teams have no representation of any foreign player. “Even without services of foreign players in their ranks, the two local teams will perform good and produce desired results by offering tough competition to the teams having services of foreign players,” maintained Irfan.
Irfan said the National Polo Championship was started way back in 1963 and since then it had been being organised regularly and had its own status of being the top national competition on polo calendar. He praised the contribution of Bank Alfalah and said they were supporting a lot to promote a historic game that was part of the heritage of the country. Saqib Ahmad of the sponsors said the participation of foreign players would help in developing a soft image of Pakistan across the globe besides giving boost to the ongoing efforts for the further promotion of polo.
“We are confident that the participation of foreign players will send a positive message to the world that Pakistan is a safe venue for international sports event and we look forward to see resumption of sports events in various disciplines including cricket and hockey. We will continue our association with polo in future as well to play our role in developing sports,” he added. The final will be played on March 9.
Participating teams:
1: Colony Sugar: Mian Hussain Iftikhar, Santiago Mendivil, Raul Laplacette and Naveed Sheikh.
2: BBJ Pipes: Ahmad Zuabir, Maj Omer Minhas, Gerardo Mazzini and Ahmad Ali Tiwana.
3: Al Khan-Ciros: Dr Iftikhar Ali, Omar Asjad Malhi, Rodrigus Azocar Bravo and Manuel Crespo.
4: Hataff-Diamond Paints:Mir Shoaib Ahmad, Hassan Ali Farrukh, Bilal Haye and Bieri Antinori.
5: Guard Group-New Age: Adnan Jalil Azam, Taimur Ali Malik, Shah Shamyl Alam and Hissam Ali Hyder.
6: Master Paints Black: Sufi Muhammad Amir, Ignacio Del Tour, Gaston Moore and Sufi Muhammad Haris.
7: Pakistan Army-NADRA: Ahmad Nawaz Tiwana, Raja Temur Nadeem, Jmaes Harper and Maj Gen Isfandiyar Ali.
8: Nestle: Hamza Mawaz Khan, Saqib Khan Khakwani, Raja Samiullah and Shah Qubilai Alam.
