TheCable

Haske & Williams team from Yola on Sunday defeated Dattaku team from Kaduna 61/2-1 in the UNICEF Cup final to win their first ever major charity polo title.

Other top winners of the ten-day competition include Team Abuja Rubicon that outclassed STL from Lagos 12-41/2 in a tense Access Bank Cup final match that was decided over five chukkas before a full house at the foremost Fifth Chukker and Country Club lawn in Kaduna.

Fifth Chukker team had earlier emerged champions of the first stage of the international charity tournament after upstaging home crowd favorites Tila Farms from Kaduna to clinch the
maiden Usman Dantata Cup.

Reputed as one of the biggest polo fund raising platforms in Africa, the UNICEF Charity Shield
polo, in its eleventh year of Access Bank exclusive sponsorship, has so far raised more than N100 million for UNICEF in support of projects aimed at alleviating the plights of the underprivileged children in Kaduna State and its environs.

Meanwhile, sole sponsor of the prestigious UNICEF Charity Shield international polo tournament, Access Bank, has reaffirmed its commitment to the charity fund raising partnership with the donation of N10million to UNICEF.

The donation was presented at the Fifth Chukker Polo and Country Club in Kaduna by the bank’s group managing director, Herbert Wigwe, in support of UNICEF’s campaign against HIV/AIDS among Nigerian children.

Wigwe, who led top officials of the bank to the final, expressed delight that the shield
had reached out to the less privilege children in the society.

“We have been working in Kaduna in collaboration with Fifth Chukker Polo and Country Resort, Kaduna and the UNICEF to elevate lives,” he said.

Zakari Adam, UNICEF’s chief of field office Kaduna, who represented the Country Representative to Nigeria, commended Access Bank’s effort.

“Through the donations over the years, UNICEF has provided care and support service to orphans and vulnerable children in focused areas of Kaduna State,” the UNICEF official said.

The cheque presentation, witnessed by top government officials, first class emirs, captains of industry, members of the diplomatic corp, polo enthusiasts and thousands of school children, was one of the highlights of the competition.