Zacara unseats Sumaya in British Open leagues
By Herbert Spencer
Lyndon Lea’s Zacara scored a last minute goal Wednesday to beat Oussama Aboughazale’s previously undefeated Sumaya 10-9 in their Group C league match in the British Open Championship for the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup at Cowdray Park.
Zacara held Sumaya scoreless in the first chukka to take a 1-0 lead, increasing their advantage in the second to 4-1 with a final goal by patron Lea. Sumaya denied Zacara any points in the third period and tied the match 4-4.
Gonzalo Deltour found the posts four times in the fourth chukka to retake the lead for Zacara, ending the period 8-5 up. Each team scored once in the fifth, with Sumaya’s coming from Ahmad Aboughazale, playing the patron’s slot for his uncle Oussama.
Sumaya’s Javier Novillo Astrada equalised 9-9 in the final chukka, but Zacara’s Deltour scored the winner before the final bell. Deltour was the high scorer for Zacara, accounting for 7 of the team’s 10 goals.
In the day’s other two league matches, Camilo Bautista’s Las Monjitas squeezed past Harald Link’s Thai Polo 9-8 and Alfio Marchini’s Loro Piana defeated Edouard Carmignac’s Talandracas 10-7.
Sumaya’s fall Wednesday means that only one of the 18 teams in the tournament, Piaget, remains undefeated. They play La Golondrina, a team with a 0-3 win/loss record, on Thursday.