New Delhi: The Indri Indian Open Polo Championship subsidiary finals happened on Saturday at the Jaipur Polo Ground in which Garcha Group won the third place defeating Sona Polo by 5-4. The match was played in the presence of Chief Guest and Founder of ITV Network, Kartikeya Sharma. For winners Garcha Group, Basheer Ali and Gerardo Mazzini scored two goals each and Lokendra Singh was the other scorer, whereas for Sona Polo, Sawai Padmanabh Singh scored two goals and Lance D. Eric Watson and Kuldeep Singh Rathore scored one goal each.
On Sunday, the finals will be held between Jindal Panthers and Sahara Warriors. Among the players, the biggest attraction is Simran Singh Shergill who’s the highest Indian handicap (+6) player from Jindal Panthers which is owned by industrialist, and a former Member of Lok Sabha, Naveen Jindal who will also play in the match.
Sawai Padmanabh Singh, the young Maharaja of Jaipur affectionately called as Pacho, is looked upon in Sahara Warriors who has played games with or against British royals, Prince William and Prince Harry.
Early goals by Basheer Ali put the Garcha Group in full command. The Indri Indian Open equestrian polo match started at 3 pm on Saturday between the teams who had lost the semis earlier. The game had 4 chukkers while the final which will be played on Sunday will be of 6 chukkers.
A penalty was awarded to Mazzini in the second chukker who then took a longish hit but found the ball in sways, the direction was lacking, thus losing the penalty, subsequent to which Angad sided off Lokendra Singh of the opposing team, and though placed a shot beautifully near the goal, could not capitalize in the end.
Kuldeep and Lance (Sona Polo) played in tandem and scored a couple of goals to equal the scores. At the end of the third chukker, the match saw both teams with equal score 3-3 putting the tensions high for the next final chukker. In the third chukker (a time period consisting of seven minutes), Padmanabh Singh whacked the ball in the air and kept juggling on his mallet.
Galloping fiercely, he continued ferrying between the Gorchas till he finally passed to Watson who backhanded the ball into the goal, making it a phenomenal equaliser. Before making it to the
goal, Watson had got a chance
but missed it by just
overstepping the ball.