Final League day of the Northern India Open Polo Championship

With Manuel Pascal and Col. Vishal Chauhan refereeing, the game began. Jindal's star player Shamsheer Ali was not able to make it to the game, giving Jindal's a 6 goal lead at the beginning of the encounter.





Match 1 - Garcha-Aravali Group v/s Jindal Panthers

 

 

 

Garcha-Aravali Group	Jindal Panthers
Col Ravi Rathore (+5)	Dhananjai Singh (0)
Satinder Garcha (+2)	Naveen Jindal 0
Angad Kalaan (+3)	Tom Brodie +4
Manuel F Llorente (+6)	Simran Singh Shergill +6

 

 

 

 

With the Panthers leading with a big margin right from the beginning of the game, the initial chukker saw their opponents itching to close in on the lead. After some scrambles mid field, neither of the team were able to control the possession for long. The first penalty of the game was awarded to Garcha, which Manolo Llorent was unable to convert into a goal. The first goal was then registered by Manolo after an excellent pass from Satinder Garcha. This was the only score of the chukker.

 

 

 

Chukker 1:
Garcha-Aravali Group-1
Jindal Panthers-6

 

 

Jindal's were able to ward off the attack of Garcha who were closing towards the goal with each attempt. However, Garcha were able to break the Panthers defense 2 minutes into the round when Manolo charged towards the goal and converted a lofted shot into a field goal. Naveen Jindal and Brodie made an excellent attempt towards the goal, but Brodie narrowly missed his shot. Around four minutes into the chukker, Tom Brodie was struck by mallet on his hamstring and took a hard fall. The game was paused as medical attention was sought for him. The match proceedings resumed with a beautiful through shot by Brodie which narrowly missed the mark. The rest of the chukker was pretty quiet as neither team was able to find success with their offenses.

 

 

 

Chukker 2:
Garcha-Aravali Group-2
Jindal Panthers-6

 

 

Simran Singh Shergill began the chukker with a cracking long shot. Garcha's defense was able to seize the ball before the Panthers but committee a foul in the process, giving Jindal's a chance to register their first goal of the evening. Brodie executed a perfect 40 yard penalty to seal the deal. Garcha replied back with a 40 yard penalty conversion of their own which was scored by Manolo Llorent. This was backed up by a spectacular lofted field goal by Col. Ravi Rathore, chopping Jindal's lead to 3 goals. Simran Singh Shergill regained his form when he converted his first goal of the evening, concluding the chukker's action.

 

 

 

Chukker 3:
Garcha-Aravali Group-4
Jindal Panthers-8

 

 

The action resumed with a 30 yard penalty conversion for Manolo. With that the game continued in full force, with both team attempting to steal possession. Simran Singh Shergill and Col. Ravi Rathore squared off in the middle of the field, both trying their level best to bring the ball to the enemies court. Following that a through shot was awarded to Angad Kalaan who missed yet again. Field goal attempt was made by Brodie, which was unfruitful. Manolo attempted a field goal with a brilliant long shot taken from mid field which bounced off the goal post. It was Col. Rathore who was able to end the silence of the chukker with a field goal conversion with seconds of play left.

 

 

 

Chukker 4:
Garcha-Aravali Group-6
Jindal Panthers-8

 

 

Garcha-Aravali finally was able to close the distance in the match in the second last chukker. Ravi Rathore started the round powerfully registering the first goal of the chukker within the first minutes of the play. He followed that up with another field goal in quick succession. This equalized the scores for the first time in the encounter and the probability of Garcha's comeback were strong. Garcha captured the lead for the first time when Manolo converted a 30 yard penalty to give his team a 9-8 lead going into the final 7 minutes of play.

 

 

 

Chukker 5:
Garcha-Aravali Group-9
Jindal Panthers-8

 

 

The final round began with Col. Ravi Rathore blazing forward on all cylinders. He scored the first goal chukker solidifying his team's lead in the first few seconds of the chukker. From this there was no them back as Garcha charged forward with full force. Another brilliant field goal conversion Ravi Rathore gave his team a 3 goal advantage. A beautiful scramble ensured when Jindal's tried to tackle off their opposition's offense but ended up giving them a 60 yard penalty. Llorent made no mistakes in his execution, striking a beautiful lofted shot which went over the goal posts. With only a few seconds left in the game, Dhananjai scored his first goal of the match but his efforts went in vain as it was too late to turn the game in his team's favour.

Garcha-Aravali managed to win despite a heavy disadvantage which worked against for the majority of the match. There defensive strategy of containing Simran Singh Shergill was the detrimental factor in their victory.
They only allowed 3 goals to slip throughout the game and dominated the game on the offensive end, with Col. Ravi Rathore leading his team from the front into victory.

 

 

 

Chukker 6:
Garcha-Aravali Group-12
Jindal Panthers-8

 

 

Garcha-Aravali managed to win despite a heavy disadvantage which worked against for the majority of the match. There defensive strategy of containing Simran Singh Shergill was the detrimental factor in their victory.
They only allowed 3 goals to slip throughout the game and dominated the game on the offensive end, with Col. Ravi Rathore leading his team from the front into victory.

 

 

 

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