Polo: El-Amin enters Guinness record after reclaiming Georgian Cup

The invincibility of El-Amin in Nigeria’s polo circuit has been reaffirmed as the club reclaimed the Georgian Cup at the Kaduna International Polo tournament to mark its silver jubilee anniversary.

In its 101st year, the Kaduna event saw the Guinness Book of World Record recognise Georgian Cup and First Bank as the longest run sporting sponsorship in the world at a time that El-Amin, Nigeria’s most accomplished team ever, defeated Abuja Rubicon, the title holders, for a 15th title of the Georgian trophy, the first team in the country to attain it.

El-Amin won its first Georgian title on the same Kaduna ground in 1999, four years after the team was formed in 1995. It also lost the title to Abuja Rubicon on the same ground last year, its first defeat in eleven years of high-wire polo campaign.

El-Amin galloped past Jos Malcomines before defeating Abuja Rubicon 7-6 in a tense final in the 2020 tournament to cruise into the Guinness record.

“Winning the Georgian trophy on our silver jubilee anniversary means everything to me and it feels like a first win for me,” Mohammad Babangida, the team’s patron who doubles as a defender, said.

“We are happy to participate in the tournament and happier to win back the Georgian Cup for the 15th time, which is the longest winning run by any team in the history of the Georgian Cup series.”

El-Amin players with Babangida as pivot have been together since 1995. Interestingly, the team has been together for 25 years.

With Ibrahim Mohammed and Bello Buba as the other key players, the team has contested for the Georgian Cup 20 times, and having won it fifteen times, it remains the only team to have won all high goal cups across Nigeria, which include the IBB Cup, Majekodunmi Cup, Emir of Katsina Cup, Nigerian Cup, and General Hassan Cup, in addition to hauling laurels outside the country.

The team also remains the first and only African team to play in the prestigious Dubai Gold Cup series in 2009, with Bello Buba, Aminu Abubakar Alhaji, Ibrahim Mohammed, and Babangida participating in the Al-Habtoor Cup Challenge in Dubai.

Babangida, as national team captain, Bello Buba, Ibrahim Mohammed, Hamisu Buba, Abdulmalik Badamasi, and Baba Dawule had competed in the Federation of International Polo (FIP) World Cup tournament in Malaysia in June 2011.

Meanwhile, El-Amin has combined its polo activities with philanthropy through the Minna-based El-Amin Foundation which led other private organisations to support the ongoing fight against COVID-19 pandemic with the donation of a well-equipped isolation centre in the Niger state capital in a quest to touch the lives of the less privileged in the society.