Lagos Polo Club, a leading Nigerian polo club with a rich history that dates back to 1904, won the Unity Cup on The Duke’s Ground for the first time on Sunday. They beat a Guards Polo Club squad 6-5 across four chukkas. However the visiting team were never behind at any stage in the match and had secured a comfortable 6-2 lead at the end of the third chukka.

The visitors had found a super sub in three-goaler Eugenio Imaz. He was substituting for the three-goaler Lorenzo Larumbe, who had to pull out of the Unity Cup match to play a rescheduled Archie David quarter-final with the STL team. Imaz provided strong support across all four chukkas to Usman and Bashir Dantata and Seyi Tinubu.

Guards Polo Club were in contention in the early stages but allowed Lagos Polo Club to pull away in the later stages of the second chukka. The home side failed to score at all in the third but got themselves right back in contention in the final chukka with goals from Tunde Karim and his nephew, Adebayo Karim. Tunde was later named the Most Valuable Player. Meanwhile, Adebayo’s pony Julia received the Best Playing Pony prize. He had scored two goals playing this mare in this game.

This is the third edition of the Unity Cup and it was wonderful to see so many of Guards Polo Club's friends from the Nigerian Polo Club at Smith’s Lawn. Chuma Nwokocha, CEO of Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Afolabi Aiyeola, Director of Arbico and the actor Djimon Hounsu, generous supporters of the Lagos Polo Team at this event, joined Guards Polo Club’s Chairman, Lt Col Sean O’Dwyer, to present the prizes. Guests then enjoyed a Searcys Clubhouse lunch before heading to the Queen's Ground to watch an Archie David Cup Quarter-Final.

Lagos Polo Club: Seyi Tinubu (0); Usman Dantata (0); Bashir Dantata (3); Eugenio Imaz (3). Guards Polo Club: Tunde Karim (0); Noor Khadra (1); Adebayo Karim (2); Oliver Fanshawe (2).

Images copyright Images of Polo