Saturday November 16, 2013, served up a historic
treat for African and Nigerian sports, as the attention of the world zoomed in
on the port city of Calabar and the cosmopolitan city of Kaduna for a weekend
of sporting history.
While Super Eagles secured a fifth World Cup finals
ticket for Nigeria against the desperate Ethiopians in Calabar, up north,
Nigeria’s all times polo champions, EL-Amin raised the bar once again, with
their tenth Georgian Cup title in Kaduna.
The high profile Kaduna’2003 international polo
tournament that attracted a record forty teams, lived up to its highly revered
tradition of cutting edge competition, high-scoring matches, fantastic goals
and an outpouring of emotion.
Expectedly, there was a healthy dose of excitement
and drama, and the usual stirring images of beaming winners and inconsolable
losers, as Kaduna rock with Mohammed Babangida and his EL-Amin setting an all
time record that would be difficult to break in the rich history of Nigerian
polo that spans over a century.
A memorable day opened with Abuja Trademark out
pacing home Boys, Kaduna DeeBee Farms to win the overcrowded EL-Amin Cup, while
Kaduna Makblow succumb to the fire power of
Katsina Kangiwa in the final of the NAHCO Cup.
Kaduna
Sublime crowned their maiden appearance at the prestigious Kaduna polo festival
with a thumping victory against DeeBee Farms and deservedly won a fast-paced
and high-scoring match final against Abuja Rubicon (2) to clinch the Emir of
Katsina Cup.
The Georgian Cup final was another premium-quality
affair in a worthy and pulsating setting. Babangida’s EL-Amin snuffed out
Senator Hadi Sirika Rubicon’s dreams of defending the title and comfortably
sealed a record tenth triumph of the Africa’s most wanted polo prize.
Roared on by their boisterous supporters and
inspired by play-maker Santiago Senardas, EL-Amin imposed their class for an
ultimately merited victory that was decided over two days of tense final.
After giving out a whopping four handicap goals to a
highly charged Abuja Rubicon fortified with a crake Argentine professional,
Juan Jose Brane , EL-Amin drilled out a
commanding performance scoring seven
goals against Rubicon’s three, to bring the scores to 8-7 in the fourth chukka.
The tense
encounter that saw Rubicon’s lead vanished to a solitary goal, was brought to
an abrupt end when Rubicon’s Idris Badamasi
fall off his pony fourteen second into the fifth chukka.
And after 14 absorbing minutes of the two chukkas
that was left to play, it was the Kaduna based polo kings who were left
celebrating. EL-Amin did not only cancel the one goal deficit, they fired home
two un-replied goals to win 10-8.
The Nigerian Team of the Decade award winners, were
again indebted to Bello Buba, Ibrahim
Mohammed Santi Sernadas and their patron, Mohammed Babangida who fought jointly
to sealed El-Amin’s podium finish.
In a Georgian Cup campaign that would go down as the
most fierce in the last six years, EL-Amin gave out a whopping eight goals and
scored a total of 22 goals, 12 against Keffi Pony in the opening game and 10
against defending champions, Rubicon in the final.
With the Georgian crown secured, EL-Amin went on to
add the Argentine Ambassador’s Cup and the Sardauna Cup in a Triple Crown command
performance that left everyone in awe.
While Chief predator, Bello Buba became the first
Nigerian player to win the 400 years Georgian title 14 times, Babangida who has
won the Georgian title eleven times, harvested a bagful of honours. He won four
glittering titles, the Emir of Katsina with Kaduna Sublime, Argentine
Ambassador Cup, Sardauna Cup and the ultimate Georgian crown.
“I dedicate this victory to my dad who has been the
inspiration of the pillar of the team since inception since 1985. We thank the
Almighty Allah for his mercies and out teeming fans for their support,”
declared Mohammed Babangida.
