Dogara’s Manchong Farm glitters at Bauchi Polo Tourney

dogaras-manchong-farm-glitters-at-bauchi-polo-tourney
Polo Pix Caption: Manchong Farm polo team patron Right Honourable Yakubu Dogara (2nd from left) leading out his players in one of their training sessions.

 

The story of the just concluded 2021 Bauchi Polo Tournament left in its trail legacies that would remain the talk of the town within the polo fraternity for a long time.

One notable  highlight  was  the impressive  debut of the Bauchi Manchong Farm polo team and  are being lauded as the new frontier for the game of kings in the ancient kingdom.

Powered by the immediate past Speaker of House of Representative, the Right Honourable Yakubu Dogara, Manchong polo warriors  hit the Kano Road venue of the tourney, to a rousing welcome and raced to a runner-up finish in their first ever attempt at the highly sort after Tafawa Balewa  Cup.

Parading mostly beginners and pivoted by the experienced Comrade Aliyu Illelah, the Manchong side who won the Best Turn Out team award defeated a crowded field of nine other oppositions, before losing narrowly 2-31/2 in the final game of the major prize played in the everlasting memory of the late Prime Minister.

In their debut appearance in Keffi last month, Manchong could only manage a draw with their Kano opponents in the opening match. They suffered losses in their remaining matches before bowing out with a title.

It was expected to be another shambolic performance when the D’Tigers made their second appearance in Bauchi, but the Dogara Big Boyz surprise everyone  with a stunning campaign, winning all their games to the historic final match.

It should be  noted that if they were to be judged by their performances in  Keffi and Bauchi, Manchong farmer can be rightly classified as an ambitious team with tremendous improvement in the team in the past one month.

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Consequently, their recent showings have elicited infectious optimism among polo stakeholders including Nigeria’s top rated player, Bello Buba who spoke on what to expect from Manchong, charged Comrade Illelah and his lads not to be complacent in their trainings despite last week’s victories over established teams.

Team founder  Dogara has vowed to give the team all the needed encouragement and support to contribute meaningfully to development of the noble game Bauchi and across the country.

 

While receiving the team, the  former Speaker who has long history with Bauchi Polo Club as a big benefactor of the game of king, heaped praises on his boys for the historic performance that fetched them the Tafawa Balewa Cup runners-up title on first attempt.

While speaking on the team’s sensational achievement so far, Illelah expressed satisfaction with the team chemistry and tight defending.

“Against Asi-Kano we marked badly and that was why we lost. And I think after the victories in the semi-final match, we got carried away,” he said. “We are going back to the drawing board and work to avoid complacency in our subsequent outings in Abuja and Kaduna.”

Meanwhile, other top performers of the 2021 Bauchi Polo extravaganza include Kano Bichi who defeated Bahchi Dokaji in a tense final to clinch  the Emir of Bauchi Cup, and Bichi Percentage who earned their first Sarikin Fulani Cup title at the expense of Triple M team from Kano.

Kano Fas Agro made history as the first ever winners of the NASCO Cup presented for competition this year, while their overall champions, Jos Malcomines, overturned the stiff challenge from Kaduna Tila Farms to extend their supremacy to a fourth year on the trot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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