Manipur retain polo international title
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, November 28 2013:
Host Manipur (india-B) recorded its se- venth consecutive title triumph with a 5-3 score victory over USA in a keenly contested final of the 7th Manipur Polo Inter-national at Imphal Pologround today.
With the exception of the penultimate session, USA riders found the mark in remaining chukkers to give the defending champions some anxious moments in front of the home crowd at the packed Pologround this afternoon.
In fact, USA opened the score through Mason Wroe in 4.12 minutes of the opening chukker before P Ojit restored parity for the home team in the seventh.
Even though Ojit's second of the match in the third min-ute put Manipur ahead in the second session the advantage lasted less than three minutes as Johny Levine (5.31) put USA back on level term.
The capacity crowd breath-ed a sign of relief when P Pradipkumar knocked in Ma-nipur's third in the opening minute of the third chukker.
Clearly determined to give their opponents a tough fight for the title, USA started the final chukker on an aggressive note and after a few near misses eventually found the equaliser through Peter Blake (3.41 min).
Ojit, however, was the star of the pulsating final with his third of the game restoring Manipur's advantage in the 6th minute before S Bimol sealed the title win in the next minute.
The final match was played with Governor Dr Ashwani Kumar and Manipur Legislative Assembly Speaker Th Lokeshwor Singh as the chief guest and president respectively.
The tournament orga- nised by Manipur Horse Riding and Polo Association is a part of the ongoing Manipur Sangai Festival.