Daily Independent Online.
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Thursday, July 01, 2004.
Kano Polo tourney gallops off Saturday
By Pius Anakali
Senior
Correspondent,
Lagos
The 2004 Kano
International Polo tournament will gallop off at the Kano Polo ground on
Saturday, July 3. The nine-day championship is expected to feature teams drawn
from across the country who would vie for honours at the event expected to
attract big names in the corporate world to a capital whose love for the game
of the kings is as royal and ancient as the game itself.
Leading the Lagos
Machine is the high riding Handicap +4 player, Jamilu Mohammed. Jamilu as he is
fondly called would lead three other players like Madugu Dantata and Farouk Musa,
Already, Kano the
commercial nerve of the North, is agog with festivities in preparation for the
prestigious polo tournament. This year’s edition, which gallops off on
Saturday in the sprawling city is
sponsored by Mobile Telecommunication Limited, Nigeria, (MTN).
The MTN Kano
International polo tournament will be quite exciting as the North will try to
ward off the attack of their southern counterpart, who are intent on
clinching the premier trophy in
the week -long polo festival.
Kano Polo is
expected to lead the tournament in participation as more than six teams
consisting of high, medium and low goals are expected to be present at the
championship. Leading the Kano defence on home soil will be teams such as Kano
Yakasai, Kano Rima, Kano Titans and Kano MG.
Also expcted to
feature are Kano Continental and Kano Dala. Low goal teams are expected to ward
off challenges from other low goal teams such as Bauchi Gubi, Yola Yelwa,
Katsina and Kaduna Xenon.
While medium goal
teams would rebuff the forays of other medium goal teams from Port Harcourt,
Ibadan, Minna and Lagos, High goal would be the hottest and toughest
championship with Lagos led by its ever enterprisisng Lagos Machine waiting in
ambush to raid other high goal teams from Kaduna and Kano.
Kano team would
however want to prove a point. With a supportive fans base running into
thousands, Kano teams would rather die than allow outsiders to snatch the
treasured Emir of Katsina trophy. They will have to contend with Kaduna polo
teams such as El-Amin, which won the Minna polo tournament last month. Led by
Mohammed, the son of the former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida,
he is expected to lead his team to another resounding victory like was recorded
in Minna recently.
But if there is any
team that should be watched out for, its the rave of the moment, Adamu Attah’s
Kaduna Fifth, the team that presently has the Majekodunmi Cup in its custody.
Kaduna Trappco
would also be in the running for the prestigious Emirs Cup.
The tournament is
expected to resurrect the healthy rivalry, which has been on for sometime now,
especially among the competing teams from the North.
Hired assassins
from South America notably Argentina, could also influence the championship as
it was seen in the time past, where Russell Watson almost single-handedly won
the trophy for Kaduna Trappco.
Other foreign
players that could grace this tournament include Kaduna Kakuri’s hired
Santiago Bataro from Argentina, while Kano teams would be expected to unveil
few of them. Apart from these, other local star players expected to grace the
elite championship include Jamilu Mohammed +4, Adamu Yaro +4 and upcoming
Hamisu Buba +3, Rowland Cookeygam, Mohammed Babangida +3 and Suleiman Abubakar
+3, are also expected to lead their teams to the battle ground.
This tournament,
one of the few tournament sponsored by MTN in Kano, promises to be interesting
and exciting, With the support of other organisations as co-sponsors, the
prestigious Kano Polo club would surely come alive once again.
Apart from the main
trophy, the other trophies expected to be in contention are Emir of Katsina
Cup, Veterans Cup, Dangote Cup, Mohammed Sanusi Cup and other fantastic
trophies.
Kano polo club and
MTN would combine to make the ancient city resplendent, between July 3-10 that
the competition would last, as royal fathers and players grace Kano to pay
homage to the elite game of polo.
