Tag: Polo Tournament

The Nigeria Customs Polo Team is eagerly being awaited  back to the Nigerian polo  as the 2023 Carnival Polo Tournament gets underway  at the prestigious Guards Polo Club in Abuja.

 Aside the expected triumphant  return  of the Customs Polo Team, organisers  of the tournament  have also confirmed  that  arrangements  were in top  gear  for the introduction of  the Comptroller General of Nigeria Custom Service Cup  to this year’s  Carnival polo that gallops tomorrow .

A top official of this  high profile polo club who disclosed this exclusively, confirmed that discussions  were ongoing as at the time of filling this report ,  saying the Custom Cup would be the latest prize to be contested for during the prestigious Carnival Polo fiesta that has already attracted entries from all the major polo centers across the country.

 “Yes,  we are working on it (the Custom Cup)  but the final decision is expected and we are happy to have the Custom polo team play in our ground as they seek their return to limelight after years of absence from the national scene,” the official noted. “Don’t forget, polo arrived in Nigeria as a recreational sport for the military and paramilitary organizations.

 “The Army, the Police, the Navy, Immigration are all flying their flags high at all major polo tournaments across the country and beyond as such, we are all happy to have our Custom officers friends back with us,” he  added with a smile.

Read Also: Tough challenges expected at 2023 Abuja Carnival Polo Tournament

Our checks also revealed that the Comptroller of Customs Cup will be decided between two selected teams in one of the final games of the tournament with the Comptroller General of Custom expected to be  the Special Guest of Honour to present the prizes to the winners and runners-up teams in what promises to be a fierce battle.

Guards Polo Captain, Muktar Adhama, confirmed that everything is looking good ahead of what would be the most exciting polo tournament in the Federal Capital City between  December 9  and December 17.

He assured polo enthusiasts a grand celebration in Abuja, stating that beyond the sport of polo, the week-long international Carnival fiesta would showcase and celebrate the tourism potentials and cultural heritage of the country.

 Some of the established Nigerian polo stars who have either won laurels in the colours of the Nigerian Custom Polo team or against the team in the past agreed  it is high time the Customs return to the national limelight after years in the doldrums.

Players like Adamu Yaro, Jamilu Mohammed, Bello Buba, Jamilu Sadaukin Katsina and Alhaji Askira, all  remember with nostalgia the glorious days of the Custom polo team and believe the Abuja carnival polo would be a perfect platform for the restoration of Nigerian Customs past glories.

Carnival Polo Tournament that was inaugurated as part of the highlights of the foremost Abuja Carnival and the prestigious Unity Polo Festival, remain the two of the biggest tourism and sporting events that puts Abuja on the global tourism map.

For the past decades this event staged annually as part of the foremost Abuja Carnival, has also lent itself as a high-profile sporting platform to promote the status of the Federal Capital City and the rich Nigerian cultural heritage as one of the world’s major tourism and cultural centers.

Last year, Malcomines Polo Team of Jos  emerged winners of the National Carnival Polo Tournament’s top prize,  the President’s Cup after defeating their 60 Yards opponents in the final.

Other participating teams competed for the Legislative Shield, FCT Minister’s Cup and Guards Challenge Trophy and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Cup.

The Abuja Rubicon team won the Legislative Shield., while Brig. Gen. Umar Laka led the Nigerian Army team  captured the  FCT Minister’s Cup victory even as Dogonyaro Polo Farmers won Guards Challenge Cup.

First set of winners in the ongoing Kano international polo tournament are set to emerge this weekend as teams jostle for three major prizes as the first stage of the prestigious polo extravaganza heads to an exciting climax on Sunday, October 1.

Two major cups, the MRS Cup that attracts a record 22 teams as the winner will go down as the first ever champion of the most competitive prize in the proud history of Kano polo.

The glamorous polo festival which got off to grandiose galloped off Tuesday, September 26 with over fifty teams drawn from all the major polo centres across the country, has been lauded as the biggest Kano international polo festival in the last decade, going by the number of participants.

Kano Polo Captain, Abba Dantata also disclosed that the finals of two traditional prizes, the highly revered Dantata Cup and the glittering MRS Cup would be decided on Sunday as the curtain falls on the first week of the fiesta that reputed as the biggest sporting and tourism festival in the ancient commercial kingdom for almost a century now.

Further checks revealed the battle for top polo honours in the second and grand finale week will blast off October 3 with the Nigerian Army and Navy and the Police teams rumbling with a flourishing finale on Sunday October 8 in the ancient kingdom.

Event’s biggest prize, the Emir of Kano Cup will take center stage with the defending champions, Kano Lintex seeking an encore against two determined oppositions, Abuja Rubicon and former runners-up and the ambitious Malcomines from Jos who are still revealing after winning their fourth straight Governor’s Cup in Yola last weekend.

Read Also: Polo royals brace for 2023 Kano Polo Tournament

Meanwhile, 18 ambitious teams parading the best of Nigerian professionals and their foreign counterparts from Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Kaduna, Katsina and over ten loaded Kano teams look set for battle royale in this high octane second week polo extravaganza at the foremost Usman Dantata polo ground in Bompai, Kano.

The race for the medium-goal Dangote Cup title will not be an all-Kano affair, as teams from Kaduna, Abuja and Katsina have all thrown their hats into the pitch, in what promises to be one of the most contested Dangote Cup games in history of the international polo fiesta.

Subsidiary cups lined up for grabs in the concluding stage of the exciting 2023 Kano polo festival include Usman Dantata Cup, Sir Muhammadu Sanusi Cup, the Governor’s Cup and the glittering Emir of Kano Cup final will draw the curtain on the prestigious polo extravaganza.

Kano -born polo patron, Bashir Dantata who leads his Lintex to defend the top prize, said the contest for the Emir’s Cup this year promises to be the most competitive and the most exciting in years.

Both Kano Polo Club Chairman, Bashir Dantata and Vice Chairman, Tajudeen Dantata who have both vied and won the Emir of Kano and the Dangote Cup respectively on many occasions, are optimistic that the contest for all top prizes this year promises to be the most competitive and the most exciting in years, as all the participating teams are bracing for titanic confrontations that would be exciting and memorable.

They both thumbed the sponsors and partners for promoting polo in Kano over the years, noting that the relationship between Kano polo and sponsors over the years has had a positive impact in the development of the noble game in Kano and the society at large.