Thaindian News

New Delhi, Feb.13 (ANI): The hallowed turf of the Jaipur Polo Grounds served up a grand Amity Polo Cup finale that was pulsating, captivating and energetic in the display of horse riding and polo stick wielding skills here on Sunday afternoon.

Led by Samir Suhag, Cavalry Jindal lifted the Amity Polo Cup in a gripping final. They defeated Sahgal Stud by eight goals to four-and-a-half goals in four chukkas (games), each of seven minutes duration. For Cavalry Jindal, the star was Naveen Singh and Major Vishal Chauhan. Singh was declared the Most Valuable Players (MVP) of the tournament with a playing handicap of minus two.

For Sahgal Stud, Vishal Singh and Kuldeep Singh Rathore were the stars of the day.

Sunday’s event was organized in support of “Amitasha” a project sponsored and overseen by the Amity Humanity Foundation (AHF), which has been in existence since 1999. The “Amitasha Project” is a chain of schools established for the education of underprivileged girl children. ‘Amitasha” has three schools for over 1000 girl students. It provides free education, meals, books, uniforms and medical care.

The Cavalry Jindal team was represented by Naveen Singh, Major Vishal Chauhan, Major Ravi Rathore and Samir Suhag with a combined handicap of plus eight. The Sahgal Stud team was represented by Kuldeep Singh Rathore, Gaurav Sahgal, Abhimanyu Pathak and Vishal Singh with a combined handicap of plus seven. Both teams were evenly matched in terms of skill for most of the match, but eventually, Cavalry Jindal prevailed and emerged deserving winners.

The umpires for the final were Henry C. Stevens of the United Kingdom and Uday Kalaan. The referee was Arjuna Awardee Brigadier (retired) V.P. Singh, who has India’s only seven goal handicap players in the last fifty years.

Runners-up Sahgal Stud each received a Blackberry phone, free year-long food coupons from the Alchemist Restaurant Group and an I-Omega hard drive. Winners Cavalry Jindal also received the above three plus a watch each valued at Rs.42, 000/-. The Most Valuable Player - Naveen Singh - received a second Blackberry phone and an I-Omega. Members of both teams were presented with wooden plaques with a polo player made of silver.

The finals were preceded by an exhibition match between Alchemist and Amity, with each team having a combined handicap of plus two. Alchemist won the match by three goals to one. The match winner in this instance was Rao Himmat Singh Bedla, who scored a hat-trick. The umpires for this match were Henry C. Stevens and Commodore Akhil Sirohi. Lt. Col. Manoj Dewan was the referee for the friendly.

The players received silver plaques. The winning team received a trophy.

The event was well attended and was sponsored by several firms, including American Express, Volkswagen, Alchemist, the Jaypee Group and Rediff. The audience was also treated to some lilting instrumental music by the Sikh Light Infantry’s brass band, giving the ambience the disciplined armed forces touch.

Apart from Cavalry Jindal and Sahgal Stud, the other six teams that took part included Equisport, Hamburg Polo Club, the Army Signal Corps (Navy), Jindal-IPG, Deep Strikers and Armoured Corps. (ANI)