Tang Polo, Los Tamaraos forge title duel

MANILA, Philippines—Argentinian pro Miguel Diaz went on another scoring spree to power Tang Polo of China to the finals with another come-from-behind win on Thursday in the Globalport Philippine Polo Open 2015 in Calatagan, Batangas.

Diaz, who scored four goals in his previous game, erupted for as many goals this time, including the winning marker in Tang Polo’s dramatic 7-6 victory over Polo Escape. His winning goal inside the last 32 seconds of the final chukker capped the team’s fightback from a 5-2 deficit.

Benjamin Urquiza accounted for the other three goals as Tang Polo completed a two-game sweep of its Zone 1 assignments.

“We’re lucky,” said team patron Liu Shilai. “Miguel played very well today. He promised he would score and he scored.”

Tang Polo collides with Los Tamaraos in the title match at 4 p.m. tomorrow in Makati before an expected huge crowd.

“It’s going to be fast and furious final,” said local polo patron Mikee Romero, who organized the tournament for the third straight year.

Tang Polo’s second win also proved that its 8-7 win over local side Globalport last Wednesday was no fluke.

Defending champion San Miguel trounced Kingpower of Thailand, 8-2, in the other game as Gregorio Gelosi and Guillermo Cavanagh each scored four goals.

San Miguel’s win created a three-way tie for the top in Zone 2 after San Miguel, Los Tamaraos and Kingpower finished with similar 1-1 records.

But Los Tamaraos, which pulled off a 9-5 win against San Miguel, took the group’s top seeding due to its superior quotient.

Despite missing the finals, Romero was elated with the results of the competition among the six well-balanced teams.

“This is a superb competition because it brought out the best in all the participating teams,” said Romero. “This is a much stronger competition being a 12-goal tournament and it’s a success.”