The Indian Open Polo Championship presented by Airbus Group
By Victoria Elsbury-Legg
This Sunday 16th November it wasn’t only the fields of Palermo which played host to matches in an ‘Open’ polo tournament. At the Jaipur Polo Ground in India the Indian Open Polo Championship Final took place featuring a match that included several top International players who earlier in the year (during the English season at Guards and Cowdray Park) had also played opposite some of the ten goalers who almost simultaneously graced the pitches in Buenos Aires.
The Final of the Indian Open Polo Championship on Sunday in association with Airbus was part of a Championship (played from 12th – 16th November) which was the first event of this kind to be jointly hosted by four Heads of Missions from four European nations. Spectators who enjoyed this inaugural event included Gustavo Aristegui, the Spanish Ambassador, Francois Richier, Ambassador of France, Michael Steiner, Ambassador of Germany and James Bevan, High Commissioner of Britain. Playing alongside Indian team mates were the Audi England Captain James Beim and Captain of New Zealand, John-Paul Clarkin.
The two teams that took to the pitch for Sunday’s Final were: Jindal Panther: Simran Singh Shergill (5) James Beim (7) J.P. Clarkin 8 and Naveen Jindal (0), and Sahara Warriors: Nicholas Pepper (4) Dhruvpal Godara (5) Palo Dorignac (6) and Samir Suhag (5). Team SSC (Gaurav Sahgal (4), Abihmanyu Pathak (4), Basheer Ali (5) and Shamsheer Ali (6) also played earlier in the tournament.
By the end of the third chukka the game was evenly matched for both of the 20 goal teams with the scoreboard reading 4 all. This continued into the fourth chukkas as both teams scored twice bringing the scores to 6 all. In the fifth chukka Sahara Warriors drew ahead by a goal at 8-7, but despite scoring a further goal in the final chukka, Sahara Warriors missed a 40 yard penalty in the last few seconds of the match, meaning Jindal Panther’s three goals scored in the sixth chukka putting them one goal ahead and the winners of the Final 10 goals to 9. MVP was awarded to Dhruvpal Godara.