Polo: Kaduna Profile Make History Winning Rubicon Tourney

Kaduna Profile Polo team confirmed their place at the summit of Nigerian polo scene, becoming the first team ever to win the inaugural Rubicon Polo Resort tournament in Abuja.

Profile defeated city rivals Kaduna Barbedos for the crown in a tense final decided before a full house in the capital city.

They went into the inaugural tournament as outsiders, but made their mark with a breathtaking exhibition of skills, horsemanship and broken-field running, showing off everything that was good about not only their own play but Nigerian polo as a whole.

The emergence of this offshoot of EL-Amin polo organization as a force to reckon with couldn’t have come at a more auspicious time than when the country was celebrating her 61st Independence Anniversary.

In their traditional all attacking game, Profile stunned four more experienced oppositions, Lintex, Malcomines, Barbedos and host team Rubicon, to their El dorado. The new polo kings defeated Barbedos in the opening match and dismissed Jos Malcomines to qualify for final without dropping a point. Lintex, Melamines and Barbedos all ended the round-robin stage with a win and a draw each and had to go into a toss that threw up Barbedos to face Profile in the ultimate final.

Revenge-seeking Barbedos were looking forward to salvaging their bruised ego with revenge, but that was not to be as Profile smashed their way to history with a close victory, emerging the first ever champions of the inaugural Rubicon tournament.

“We are happy we participated in the tournament. We are even happier we emerged the overall champions, a feat that would go down in the annals of Rubicon Resort tournaments,” team patron, Mohammed Babangida declared. “It is a great honour,” he stressed further. “All our matches were huge games and no easy one. “As well all know, others have a high level of skill but, as a team, we are willing to take that on the chin and show what we are capable of as well”, he added with a smile. “

Predator in chief of Profile and El-Amin, Bello Buba, added: “The whole experience was amazing and I can’t believe the high level of competition and huge turnout. It was so exciting.”

He admitted that all Profile wanted was to be able to play and experience the tournament. “I think all we wanted was to be able to play, and experience

events like this. We are proud of our achievement, Buba added. With the conquest of Abuja that quickly transforms Profile to becoming one of the hottest tickets in town. with an army of new fans attracted to the sport like their forebears, EL-Amin, pundits convinced that skeptics of Profile future were quickly won over by the action on show and the buzz around the country. Polo buffs believe that with all the five teams parading two Argentine professionals, the 19-goal tournament that saw Lintex defeat Malcomines to the subsidiary final, has provided the strongest indication yet of what to expect at the 2021 Kaduna

international tournament.

This much was confirmed as the same regulars and others have thrown their hats into the Georgian Cup firestorm with the 15 times winners, EL-Amin as the defending champions.