Kaduna El-Amin on Sunday defeated the defending champions, Kaduna Rubicon 9-7 to reclaim Africa’s most prestigious polo trophy, Georgian Cup at the 2020 Kaduna International Polo Tournament.
The Kaduna El-Amin team led by team patron, Mohammed Ibrahim Babangida and inspired by Argentine import, Raul put up a fantastic performance to win back the Georgian Cup, their 15th victory of the trophy made of Georgian silver in 1875.
The team sporting Nigeria’s best player, Bello Buba (19 times winner of Georgian Cup), Argentine imports, Raul and Martin Sowedo, as well as hard hitting Mohammed Ibrahim Babangida (15 times winner), were fired up to reclaim the trophy and avenge their 2019 loss to Abuja Rubicon.
The 2019 winners led by patron and Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, who did not play, starred the Badamasi brothers, Abdulmalik and Idris as well as Argentine imports, Sylvester Donovan and Manuel Crespo put up a huge fight to retain their trophy.
The match started with El-Amin gaining a goal due to lower handicap, this they doubled through Raul within few minutes of the game, Raul tripled their goals in the second chukker but Manuel Crepo hit back with two goals to end the chukker 2-3.
The third chukker promised to be the turning point as El-Amin increased their lead to 2-4 but were pegged back and conceded two goals to have the game levelled up 4-4. Rubicon then took the lead via Donovan but Raul equalised through a penalty, Donovan scored again to put his side ahead 6-5 before missing a chance to take the game further beyond their opponents.
The last two chukkers became decisive as Rubicon extended the lead to 7-5 but Raul reduced the tally and helped El-Amin levelled the game 7-7. El-Amin then showed their grit to score two goals in the last chukker even as Rubicon lost a 30-yard penalty to lose the game 7-9.
Kaduna El-Amin had earlier played a 5-5 draw with Malcomines on Saturday, while Abuja Rubicon piped the Malcomines side 6-5 on Thursday to win the Argentine Ambassador Cup sponsored by Dawule Baba owner of Deebee Farms.
