The just concluded 2024 Minna Polo Tournament provided a perfect platform for Nigeria’s most successful polo team, EL-Amin to celebrate another milestone of Nigerian polo dominance in the past 29 years.
Hosted by the Niger State Government, the grand event pitching most of the biggest names in Nigerian polo and an impressive assemblage of teams from across the country was unique in many ways.
The biggest roar at the polo festival came from the Kings of Nigerian high-goal polo, the EL-Amin team that extended their IBB Cup supremacy and added three of the four major prizes at stake for effect, to celebrate their three decades of polo successes in style.
EL-Amin made it look easy as they retained their cherished IBB Cup and the Abdulsalami Cup respectively in their traditional sublime displays and won the Governors’ Cup.
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Their latest addition, the Phoenix loaded with their second-generation players, won the Aisha Babangida Cup on their tournament debut to spark the celebration of the milestone of achievements for a long time.
“I’m proud of the last 29 years. It has been an unbelievable journey,” Mohammed Babangida who is the President of Kaduna Polo Club said with pride. “I’m not too sure it’s the end yet. There is a lot to happen with the EL-Amin team.
“When we started, we were trying to get a strong team, good horses, and good care in terms of support, but we were not able to do that and every tournament we went to, we were beaten and we had to sit back and re-assess the whole situation.”
The result of that reassessment is that from 1999 when they won their first Georgian Trophy title, the fortunes of El-Amin have continued to blossom.
As the all-conquering polo kings mark their 29 years of high-wired, some of the questions that were asked by the fans and experts about the Kaduna based polo lords at their 25th anniversary have been answered positively.
Since making their debut in Nigeria’s polo scene, EL-Amin founded by Babangida in 1995 have won every conceivable tournament and trophy on sight, making it not only Nigeria’s best and dominant team but one of the finest outfits in the world as well.
A peep into its trophy laden cabinet shows just domiant they have been. With Ibrahim Mohammed and Bello Buba as the other key players, EL-Amin has won the prestigious Georgian Cup a record 15 times.
They remain 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, General Hassan Cup, and Rubicon Turf Polo crown in Abuja, in addition to hauling laurels outside the country.
EL-Amin is the first and only African team to play in the prestigious Dubai Gold Cup series in 2009, and the Al-Habtoor Cup Challenge in Dubai.
Mohammad Babangida, as national team captain, led the Nigerian Polo Eagles to the Federation of International Polo (FIP) World Cup tournament in Malaysia in June 2011 and the Nations Cup of polo in South Africa.
Undoubtedly, El–Amin is Nigeria’s best polo team that has transformed itself into a brand whose incredible success has not only earned and enhanced its fan base, but has attracted more people to the royal sport itself.
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