The recently concluded 2022 Kano international polo tournament was successful on all fronts.
From the crowded stands loaded with first class traditional rulers from the north to the pulsating games that kept the crowd on their feet from start to finish, the prestigious event was indeed grand.
The week-long fiesta presented a perfect platform for Nigerian players and upcoming polo patrons to display their awesome skills as they jostle for honours.
It particularly handed the upcoming polo stars the much-needed opportunity to launch their careers before the high-profile crowd and the established players and patrons that witnessed fiesta.
One such youngster and the youngest polo patron that impressed at the fiesta was Habib Buhari who stood out as one of Nigerian brightest prodigies.
” I’m humbled by the praises and accolades I have been receiving since this tournament started and I am particularly proud that our team won one of the major prizes at stake, the Dangote Cup on first attempt,” Buhari opened up moments after his Rumbu team overwhelmed Kaduna Datakku in the final .
He further revealed that the shared joy of defeating a crowded field of more experienced oppositions to the prizes and the sense of fulfilment will linger for a long time.
“This is only my second year in competitive polo after winning the Access Bank Cup during the Charity Shield event in Fifth Chukker and playing with Almat team in Lagos two years ago; and I hope to build on it and take my polo career to the top,” Habib, who dedicated the victory to his family, noted.
The dream of winning the Dangote Cup title almost came to a halt the day his attempt of clinching the MRS Cup in the first stage of the international polo rumble ran into the rough with a semi-final elimination in the race for the low-goal laurel.
The Rumbu team patron and one of his players who was shaping up for the big second week, were shockingly ruled out from the tournament hours before it started, leaving the ambitious youngster who had acquired the services of Argentine professional, Diego White for the big assignment in quandary.
He said: “It was a big blow and the confusion that crept into our team was enormous but one thing was certain: we were not going to withdraw from the race and we left everything to the Almighty God and our resolve to march on despite the odds. “
And march on they did with a hurried replacement of two new players with that, the never -say die patron, who had initially taken to soccer before his love for the horses took the better of him, pulled off the biggest surprise of the event, motivating his demoralized players to a crowning victory.
Presently boosting sixteen playing ponies and some racing horses, Habib who has started cross breeding, declared his intention to take his career to the very top, winning all the high-goal prizes available before resting his mallets.
“I’m in my mid-twenties and I believe God’s willing because of my love for the game I can last the next thirty years in active polo,” added in his closing remarks.