The second day of the Northern India Open Polo Championship commenced on a rainy Wednesday afternoon with Sahara Warriors locking horns with Garcha Group- Aravali Polo in the first encounter of the day. The game is refereed by Martin Pascual and Col. Vishal Chauhan.
Match 2: Sona Polo vs Jindal Panthers
After a nail biter in the opener, the second encounter of the day was between the evenly matched teams of Sona Polo and Jindal Panthers. Coming off a tournament win, Jindal Panthers were led in the encounter by their patron Naveen Jindal.
| Sona Polo | Jindal Panthers |
|---|---|
| Sawai Padmanabh Singh +3 | Shamsheer Ali +6 |
| Abhimanyu Pathak +5 | Naveen Jindal 0 |
| Gaurav Sehgal +3 | Tom Brodie +4 |
| Basheer Ali +5 | Simran Singh Shergill +6 |
Shamsheer Ali was unable to play for Jindal Panthers and Dhananjai Singh replaced him. The new goal disparity gave Jindal Panthers unprecedented lead of 6 points in the beginning of the game.
The game kicked off with a beautiful scramble after which a 60 yarder was awarded to Sona. Abhimanyu Pathak striked the shot but was unsuccessful in converting it into a goal. The first goal was a field goal converted by Simran Shergill in the third minute of the opening chukker. Both the teams went back and forth for the remainder of the round but failed to register anything on the board until Basheer Ali converted a 60 yarder in the final seconds of the round.
Chukker 1:
Sona Polo- 1
Jindal Panthers – 7
Simran Singh Shergill started off the round with beautiful all round game by defending the goal and charging up the field to score a flawless field goal. Jindal won a 40 yarder and Tom Brodie vollied the shot in for another goal, giving Jindal's an 8 goal lead. Another aggressive tussle ended with Sawai Padmanabh Singh narrowly missing the goal. In the concluding minute of the chukker, Sona scored twice. Basheer Ali converted a penalty and then Abhimanyu Pathak struck another field goal to finish off the chukker at 3-9.
Chukker 2:
Sona Polo- 3
Jindal Panthers – 9
Both the teams played a more defensive game and were unable to score in the initial 4 minutes of the game. Basheer Ali was unsuccessful in converting a 60 yard penalty. It was Tom Brodie who scored a magnificent field goal to register the first goal of the chukker. However, Basheer Ali really came into his element in the latter part of the chukker, scoring twice. He first converted a 30 yard penalty and followed that up with a field goal.
Chukker 3:
Sona Polo- 5
Jindal Panthers -10
Simran Singh Shergill began the chukker strongly, threatening to score but his attack was thwarted by Sona's defense. Abhimanyu Pathak registered two field goals in a quick succession. While trying to secure his goal, Simran Singh Shergill took a tumble and medical attention was sought for him. But he was quick to mount on his horse and the play resumed. Dhananjai scored the final goal of the round from a brilliant pass by Simran Singh Shergill in the last minute.
Chukker 4:
Sona Polo- 7
Jindal Panthers -11
The chukker's beginning saw Dhananjai colliding with the goal post at a high pace and the action was halted as he was tended by the medics. The game resumed and Gaurav Sehgal wasted no time in getting right back on the attack, missing narrowly. With three minutes left, Abhimanyu Pathak converted a field goal and the Panthers lead reduced to 3. Sawai Padmanabh Singh attempted another field goal but fouled just before the goal post.
Chukker 5:
Sona Polo- 8
Jindal Panthers -11
The final chukker began with both the teams playing an aggressive game and the game remained in the middle of the ground for the majority of the initial part of the chukker. Simran Singh Shergill scored two consecutive field goal and Sona Polo's Abhimanyu Pathak and Gaurav Sehgal each scored one goal towards the end of the game. Jindal Panthers’ initial 6 goal lead seemed to be too much for Sona as they were not able to close the distance once in the encounter and the game ended at 10-13 with the former emerging victorious.
Chukker 6:
Sona Polo- 10
Jindal Panthers -13
Match 1 – Garcha Group-Aravali Polo vs Sahara Warriors
| Garcha Group- Aravali Polo | SAHARA WARRIORS |
|---|---|
| Satinder Garcha +2 | Mr. Vandit Golechha (+1) |
| Angad Kalaan +3 | Mr. Siddhant Sharma (+4) |
| Col Ravi Rathore +5 | Mr Dhruvpal Godara (+5) |
| Manuel F Llorente p | Mr Matthew Philip Perry (+6) |
The match began with both the teams aggressively fighting for the possession but it was Satinder Gotcha who succeeded and took the ball towards the opponents goal. Col. Ravi Rathore converted the ball into a field goal. Dhruv Pal of Sahara scored in return, converting a field goal. Matthew Perry followed that up with another field goal. In the following sequence, Ravi Rathore was fouled at the 30 yard penalty line, which he protested but was ultimately unsuccessful in repealing the referee's decision. Sahara was not able to convert from the 30 yard penalty line. Manolo ended the chukker by beautifully scoring a field goal to equalise the scores.
Chukker 1:
Garcha-Aravali Group-2
Sahara Warriors-2
The match began with both the teams aggressively fighting for the possession but it was Satinder Gotcha who succeeded and took the ball towards the opponents goal. Col. Ravi Rathore converted the ball into a field goal. Dhruv Pal of Sahara scored in return, converting a field goal. Matthew Perry followed that up with another field goal. In the following sequence, Ravi Rathore was fouled at the 30 yard penalty line, which he protested but was ultimately unsuccessful in repealing the referee's decision. Sahara was not able to convert from the 30 yard penalty line. Manolo ended the chukker by beautifully scoring a field goal to equalise the scores.
Chukker 2:
Garcha-Aravali Group-5
Sahara Warriors-2
Satinder Garcha converted a beautiful spot hit from Manolo taken from midfield and registered the first goal of the chukker. Another spot hit was awarded to Garcha but they were not able to repeat the previous result. Col Ravi Rathore stole the possession from Perry and stroke a beautiful cut shot in front of the goal and Angad Kalaan scored his teams’ fourth goal. After a brief interval where players were allowed to switch Ponies, the play resumed with both teams scrambling for possession. It was Col. Ravi Rathore with Siddhant Sharma, hot on his heels scoring the final goal of the chukker. Following this, the match was called due to rain.
Chukker 3:
Garcha-Aravali Group-6
Sahara Warriors-3
Losing the first half, Sahara felt the pressure in the second. Matthew Perry charged towards the goal but his attempt was foiled by Ravi Rathore. Matthew Perry made a couple more attempts at the goal, but to no avail. Col. Rathore and Angad Kalaan showed exceptional defensive game in covering Matthew Perry. In the final minute of the chukker, Sahara were awarded a 30 yard penalty and Dhruv Pal successfully converted the only goal of the chukker, narrowing Garcha-Aravali's lead to two.
Chukker 4:
Garcha-Aravali Group-6
Sahara Warriors-4
The initial two minutes saw a constant back and forth between the two teams, with the ball circling all over the field. The first goal of the chukker came by the way of 30 yard penalty conversion by Dhruv Pal of Sahara Warriors. Siddhant Sharma led another beautiful charge towards the goal but Manolo hooked his shot right on time. Matthew Perry equalized the score for the second time in the encounter since the first chukker by the way of a field goal. The play ended after a couple of unsuccessful attempts by Matthew Perry and the field was level going into the final chukker.
Chukker 5:
Garcha-Aravali Group-6
Sahara Warriors-6
With the scores leveled at the beginning, the margin of error was pretty meager. But Garcha-Aravali made the first error of the chukker by giving their opponents a 60 yard penalty, which Matthew Perry executed perfectly and gained a lead for his team for the first time in the match. Garcha-Aravali had a chance of equalizing with a 60 yarder of their own, but the shot executed by Col. Rathore was just a little wide. Sahara gave Garcha-Aravali another opportunity to equalize the score by giving them a 40 yarder but Manolo missed the shot. With only a couple of minutes left in the encounter, Sahara defended their goal extremely well and maintained the single goal lead to bag the win.
Chukker 6:
Garcha-Aravali Group-6
Sahara Warriors-7
