Follow Us on Google
By Joe Apu
The opening week of the 2022 Lagos International Polo Tournament came to a climax with Lagos based teams sweeping all the three prizes at stake.
Lagos Dangote set the pace with an emphatic victory over Centaur to clinch the debuting Adedapo Ojora Memorial Cup, before title holders, Leighton Saopolo successfully defended the Lagos Open Cup and the Oba of Lagos Cups respectively.
In a tense final witnessed by a capacity crowd that included former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and billionaire Abdulsamad Rabiu, Leighton Saopolo scored in the first minute of the game that went neck-to-neck winning 9-8 to deny Almat Petrogas their first major title in Lagos.
Before the Open Cup cracker, the duo of Bowale Jolaosho, Seyi Oyinlola and Bowale Jolaosho that had earlier defeated Centaurs team to keep the Oba of Lagos title for the fourth year running, are bracing for a treble as the Majekodunmi Cup race takes center stage from Tuesday
Martin Juaregui broke from the bowling in to score the quickest goal of the festival so far, but Manuel Crespo equalized in kind and pivoted Almat parading Ibrahim Haliru, Habib Buhari and Felipe Marquez to a 4-1 lead in the second chukka.
The lead was soon wiped out by with two quick fires from Juaregui and Ratamar to draw level in the third chukka and reclaimed the lead 9-7 in the fourth chukka
Juaregui and Ratamar were the chief predators for the Lagos side as they held on till the buzzer sounds despite Crespo – a former MVP of the Lagos International Polo Tournament – netting the final goal to finish 8-9.
