AFZAL JAVED / DNA
ISLAMABAD, APR 30: Team Sante Polo clinched the Serena Challenge Polo Cup 2023, beating strong Beretta Asean by close margin which was played at the lush green Islamabad Polo Club on Sunday organised by Serena Hotels.
The thrilling final match saw both the teams – Beretta Asean and Sante Polo Team who made it to the finals after putting up a great performance in the preliminary matches. The match was intense, with fire-with-fire till the end and when the final whistle after the fourth chukker was blown, the match was tied at 4.1/2-4. Babar Naseem hammered the match-winning goal to steer Sante Polo team to a nail-biting victory in the final.
The significant contribution of Ahmed Ali Tiwana of two tremendous goals for Team Sante, emerged as best player of the final while his teammates Maisam Baloch and Umer Minhas also played out their hearts and banged in a brace each. Maisam Baloch was also declared the best emerging Player of the polo cup.
The players of Beretta Asean also played wonderfully to show their best skills specially Hamza Nawaz looked superb with polo pony and kept on attacking the opponents’ goals but his all efforts went into vain after losing the decisive final.
First Lady Samina Arif Alvi was the chief guest of the closing ceremony of the event while CEO Serena Hotels Aziz Boolani, ambassadors, diplomats from different countries, government officials, corporate community and a large number of polo enthusiasts from all walks of life were also present in the concluding ceremony.
Meanwhile, talking to the media, Aziz Boolani CEO Serena Hotels said that we will continue our support for the promotion of sports in the country. He congratulated both teams on their excellent performance and sportsmanship in the polo cup.
He said that we believe in supporting sports activities through sponsorships and by providing a platform to players and teams under our Sports Diplomacy initiative.
The Serena Hotels Polo Cup is an annual event organised by the Serena Hotels under the Hotel’s very active Sports Diplomacy initiative, which aims to promote sports and sportsmanship in Pakistan.=DNA
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