Artillery beat Rajasthan in nail-biting match

The third day of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Trophy being organised by the Indian Polo Association witnessed the most interesting match so far as Artillery registered a thrilling win (7-6.5) over Rajasthan Polo Club at Chandigarh Polo Club, Khuda Lahora, today.

Gunner Uday Kumar took advantage of the 15 yard penalty scoring for Artillery within half a minute of the play. Later, Havildar Irfan Khan strengthened the lead for the team leaving the score one-sided at 4-1.5

Alan Shaun Michael (two goals) and Shubham Gupta (two goals) with four goals in the second round helped Rajasthan make a gradual comeback with 5-4.5 on the board.

Thereafter, Shubham scored a goal and the scoreline became 5.5-5 in Rajasthan’s favour in the second minute of the third and the final round. Meanwhile, Lt Col Narender Kumar dodged other riders and scored an exceptional goal to give his team again a slight lead. Rajasthan, once again dominated the scene with the brilliant backhanded goal through Shaun Michael. In the last moments of the match, Narender Kumar missed a 15-yard penalty but was well compensated within a few seconds which helped Artillery seal the fixture by 7-6.5 in their favour. Narender scored four goals for the winning side.

In the second match of the day, Army Service Corps outclassed Remount and Veterinary Corps (RVC) 10-3.5. Naik Ravindra Mang and Sepoy Mukesh Gurjar scored two goals each in the score of 4-1.1 in the first round. Gurjar scored three goals in the second round pushing the match to one-sided play at 8-2.5. Match ended at 10-3.5 as ASC emerged victorious.

Satyaprakash scored three goals for the losing side.

Earlier, in yet another exciting match for Young Riders Cup Team Mohali defeated Charminar 5-4. Uday Kumar scored three goals for the winning side while Mohd Faizal scored two for Charminar.

The league matches in both categories will continue on Thursday.