By Oscar Pilipili
NAIROBI; KENYA: Samurais edged out Lady Lori Helicopters by a fraction of a goal, 5.5-5, in a high adrenaline preliminary match of Davis Cup to cruise into the final of the tournament at Nairobi Polo Club.
Samurais are drawn against Veuve Clicquote who beat Governors Camp 5-3 in the opening match of the season ending tournament on Saturday.
It was a great show of polo artistry from handicap 1.5 Raphael Nzomo of Samurais and handicap 0.5 Jonathan Stichbury of Lady Lori as the two players were responsible for all goals scored by respective teams.
Lady Lori took an early 2-0 lead in the first chukka but an onslaught from Nzomo inspired Samurais brought the scores to 2.5-2 in favor of the later.
Nzomo then scored twice in the third chukka to give Samurais 4.5-4 lead at the close of the third chukka.
Samurais’ fourth goal in the last seven minutes was the most dramatic as Nzomo picked a ball at center line and executed a long hit that landed near the goalmouth.
Nzomo atop his pacy horse then galloped towards the goal and tapped the ball twice from close range. His final hit had to smash the left post before going in amid wild cheers from ecstatic fans at Nairobi Polo Club.
The teams entered the competitive fourth chukka with Samurais enjoying a fraction of a goal advantage at 4.5-4.
And on change of scoring direction, Nzomo was in the act again when he converted a class goal to hand Samurais’ 5.5-4 goal advantage.
Courtesy of Standard Digital News