Bin Drai remains unbeaten and Mahra achieves first victory in the Julius Baer Gold Cup
In another great double action day at the Al Habtoor Polo Resort & Club for the Julius Baer Gold Cup 2017, Bin Drai achieved their second victory in a row while Mahra won “in extremis” to claim their first triumph in the tournament.
Bin Drai defeated Bangash by 12 goals to 8 and Mahra defeated Julius Baer by Habtoor Polo in OT by 11 goals to 10.
In the first match of the day, patron Saeed Bin Drai´s team had in Francisco Elizalde and Raúl Laplacette an effective tandem that worked in great shape from the very beginning.
Bin Drai achieved a 5 goal gap in the second chukker (7-2) and remained unstopabble till the end. That made things really hard for Bangash to come closer in the score.
At the end, Bin Drai kept playing at a great level for a deserved 12-8 victory.
Match progression:
Bin Drai: 4-2/ 7-2/ 8-5/ 11-6/ 12-8
In the second match of the day, Mahra and Julius Baer by Habtoor Polo played one of the most exciting matches of the season.
Victory was for Mahra in OT by 11 goals to 10 after a penalty from the spot scored by Isidro Strada. But it could have gone either way because Julius Baer played also a great match.
Patron Mohammed Al Habtoor´s team had a great start for a two goal gap in the first two chukkers (2-0/ 4-2) but slowly, and with lot´s of patience, Mahra started to comeback in the third chukker and finally got the lead in the fourth period.
What came next was more than 10 minutes (fifth chukker and the minutes played in extra time) full of excitement.
Both teams had lot´s of chances during that lapse of time but it was finally in the third minute of the extra chukker that Strada, with the spot penalty, gave Mahra the first triumph in the Julius Baer Gold Cup.
Match progression:
Mahra: 0-2/ 2-4/ 5-6/ 9-8/ 10-10/ 11-10
The Julius Baer Gold Cup will continue next friday with another double action day at the Al Habtoor Polo Resort & Club.
Starting at 2pm, UAE Polo will face Wolves followed by Desert Palm against Zedan.