The 6-goal Silver Stick Polo Tournament

The Mumbai Polo Season kickstarted at the Mahalaxmi Race Course with the 6-goal Silver Stick Polo tournament. The 72nd Annual Horse Show & Polo tournament saw Team V Polo and Su Che go head to head in the first game of the Silver Stick Polo team. Su Che Polo Team, comprised of Sujay Shetty, Zahaan Kapoor, Sunny Patel and Basheer Ali, started a game rather sedately at the ARC grounds in Mahalaxmi Race Course. Trailing 1 - 3, after the first chukker, Su Che picked up the pace in the second chukker as Sunny Patel scored two goals while Zahaan Kapoor and Basheer Ali scoring a goal each to wind up the second chukker with a lead. The score after the second chukker was 5 - 3.

The Mumbai Polo Season kickstarted at the Mahalaxmi Race Course with the 6-goal Silver Stick Polo tournament. The 72nd Annual Horse Show & Polo tournament saw Team V Polo and Su Che go head to head in the first game of the Silver Stick Polo team. Su Che Polo Team, comprised of Sujay Shetty, Zahaan Kapoor, Sunny Patel and Basheer Ali, started a game rather sedately at the ARC grounds in Mahalaxmi Race Course. Trailing 1 - 3, after the first chukker, Su Che picked up the pace in the second chukker as Sunny Patel scored two goals while Zahaan Kapoor and Basheer Ali scoring a goal each to wind up the second chukker with a lead. The score after the second chukker was 5 - 3.
 

Day 2

 

The second day of the Silver Stick Tournament witnessed Madon Polo and V Polo involved in an intense face off. The team line up of Madon Polo featured Indian ace, Simran Singh Shergill, Sameer Mecca, Kuldeep Singh Rathore and Dinyar Madon while V Polo played with “our very own rockstar”, Dhruvpal Godara, Harsh Piramal, Vishal Nihalani and Nimit Mehta. The first chukker saw Simran Singh Shergill score two back to back goals for Madon Polo team and the action was repeated by Dhruvpal Godara for V Polo team. The teams were levelled at 3-3 after Vishal Nihalani and Kuldeep Singh Rathore scored a goal each for their respective teams.

The match progressed towards the second chukker with Dhruvpal Godara bagging one more goal for his Team which was answered by Simran Singh Shergill as he scored two more goals for Madon Polo team. Vishal Nihalani, scoring one in the late minutes of the chukker, held the scoreboard at level after the second chukker. The third chukker saw Dhruvpal Godara dominating the game as he scored three goals. Simran Singh Shergill scored a goal to bring Madon Polo team back in the game. The hooter for the chukker blew with scoreboard favoring V Polo team by 8-6.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 3

 

Going head to head on the third day, Mumbai Polo/Carysil and Artillery Centre, fought in the first match of the day. Mumbai Polo/Carysil starting the match in style with the likes of Abhimanyu Pathak, Gaurav Sahgal, Shyam Mehta and Qais Dalal, saw Shyam Mehta open the account for the scoring. Abhimanyu Pathak, drifting on his horse from the right, hammered the ball through the goal as he scored the second goal for Mumbai Polo/Carysil. The first chukker saw Artillery Centre, comprised of Irfan Khan, Col J S Shekhawat, Lt Col A Samantray and Gonzalo Yanzon, trying hard to score but Mumbai Polo/ Carysil’s defence line was strong enough to stop them from opening their account.

The second chukker opened with Col JS Shekhawat scoring the first goal for Artillery Centre which was quickly repeated by Gonzalo Yanzon as he scored the second goal for Artilery Centre. Gaurav Sahgal, continuing his brilliant form from the previous day, smashed two back to back goals for Mumbai Polo/ Carysil to wind up the chukker at 4 - 2.5. The third chukker saw an empty sheet from Artillery Centre as they were not able to score a goal in the chukker. Gaurav Sahagal and Abhimanyu Pathak, on the other hand, scored two goals for Mumbai Polo/ Carysil Polo team to extend the team’s lead and prove their dominance over the opponents. The third chukker ended at 6 - 2.5

The last chukker of the match saw both the teams scoring two goals each. Shyam Mehta and Abhimanyu Pathak scored the goals for Mumbai Polo/ Carysil while Lt Col Ashish Samntray and Gonzalo Yanzon scored for Artillery Centre. The two goals from Artillery Centre weren’t enough to help them overcome Mumbai Polo/ Carysil’s lead and the match ended with the scoreboard showing 8 - 4.5 in favor of Mumbai Polo/ Carysil.

The second match of the day, Madon Polo and Su Che locking horns at the Mahalaxmi Race Course. The second match was quite intense and winded up on a difference of just 1 goal. Madon Polo marched towards the field with Simran Singh Shergill, Kuldeep Singh Rathore, Dinyar Madon and Sameer Mecca shining in the team’s jerseys. Su Che Polo team, on the other hand, played with the likes of Basheer Ali, Sunny Patel, Zahaan Kapoor and Sujay Shetty. The action for the match began with Basheer Ali and Simran Singh Shergill indulging in a fierce battle which was won by Kuldeep Singh Rathore as he took the advantage of the open defence and scored the first goal for Madon Polo. Basheer Ali nicely responded to that as he scored the first goal for Team Su Che to wind up the first chukker at 1 - 1.

The second chukker was goalless for Team Su Che while Simran Singh Shergill bagged two goals for Team Madon Polo. The score after the second chukker was 3 - 1. Su Che revived themselves in the third chukker as Sunny Patel hit two goals in favor of Su Che Polo team. Madon Polo team could manage only one goal in the chukker which came from Simran Singh Shergill’s powerful strike. Basheer Ali also scored one to help Su Che to level the scores after the third chukker. The fourth chukker was quite intense and witnessed two goals from both the teams. Sunny Patel scored the two goals for Su Che Polo team while Kuldeep Singh Rathore and Dinyar Madon scored the goals for Madon Polo. The score after the fourth chukker was 6 - 6 and the game had to be shifted to the fifth/golden chukker and Sameer Mecca, the young gun, scored the golden goal and led Team Madon Polo to a fabulous victory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finals:

 

 

Carysil/Mumbai Polo	V Polo
Qais Dalal -2	Nimit Mehta -1
Shyam Mehta 0	Harsh Piramal 0
Gaurav Sehgal +3	Vishal Nihalani +2
Abhimanyu Pathak +5	Dhruvpal Godara +5

 

 

The game began with the teams trying to wrest away a slight lead from the other. However, neither of them were successful in doing so as each team’s score was matched by the other but not bettered until the very end of the final chukker. The game opened with Abhimanyu Pathak and Dhruvpal Godara firing off one goal apiece to conclude the first chukker at 1-1. Godara found success again in the second chukker but was matched by Gaurav Sehgal and the score was 2-2 going into the latter half. Shyam Mehta and Vishal Nihalani delivered in the 3rd and the game was at a deadlock at 3-3 going into the final seven minutes of the final. Carysil/Mumbai Polo was able to quieten their opponents for the remainder of the game. Contributions made by Shyam Mehta and Abhimanyu Pathak were instrumental in ensuring a hard-fought victory for their side as both of them were able to close in a goal and end the game at 5-3.