Great Britain demolish IPA 17-0 as 5th Manipur Statehood Day Women's Polo Tournament kicks off
Source: The Sangai Express / DIPR

Imphal, January 17 2020: Chief Minister N Biren Singh today inaugurated the 5th Manipur Statehood Day Women's Polo Tournament at Mapal Kangjeibung, the oldest living polo ground in the world.

Addressing the gathering, Chief Minister said that the tournament is a tribute to "Lord Marjing and our ancestors who gifted the world such a beautiful game" .

It is indeed a matter of pride that Manipur is the birthplace of the modern Polo, he added.

The Chief Minister maintained that "we must put our collective efforts in promoting Manipur as a preferred Polo destination" .

With an objective to promote Polo, the Government has developed the Marjing Polo Complex at Heingang, Imphal East, he said and stressed the need for preserving and protecting the indigenous ponies.

Six teams - Great Britain, Argentina, United States of America, Egypt, Indian Polo Association (India-A) and Manipur (India-B) clustered into two pools are participating in the tournament.

One best team from each pool will clash for the top honour of the tournament.

In the opening match of the tournament, Rosanna Turk and Alice Walsh scored five goals each to help Great Britain kick off Pool A campaign with a demolishing 17-0 win against India-A (IPA) .

Lorna Broughton, who finished with an impressive four goals in her name, put Great Britain ahead with a quick shot briefly after the start and it took 2.25 minutes for the team to double their advantage with Heloise Wilson Smith on the striking end.

Rosanna Turk then quickfired two goals in the following two minutes before Alice Walsh opened up her account in the 6th minute to make it 5-0.India-A had their sticks barely on the ball despite their effort and soon Lorna completed her double few moments past the 6th minute mark and saw Alice Walsh add up another within a few seconds past the 7th minute mark and gave Great Britain a comfortable 7-0 lead.

Alice Walsh completed her treble in the first minute of the second chukker before Lorna stamped her authority by chipping in two goals and made it 10-0 till halfway.

Great Britain picked up the game from where they left and it was Alice Walsh who sealed her fourth goal in the second minute of the third chukker before Heloise Wilson scored in between her fifth goal in the 5th minute.

Rosanna piled up more misery on the Indian team who were never seen in contest by adding up a goal and making it 14-0 till the end of the third chukker.

Rosanna connected to two more goals in the last chukker before Heloise struck her third in the 6th minute and completed the 17-0 demolition.

Meanwhile in the Group B opener staged latter, India-B represented by local riders got the better of Egypt team by 10-5 goals.

The Egypt team made a bright start and led the first chukker 3-2 against the Manipur side but Thoudam Tanna and Khundongbam Deventy combined well to turn the table in Manipur's favour till the halfway break before easing to a comfortable 10-5 victory.

Th Tanna took only half a minute to send Manipur on the front-foot but Alia Mohamed Yehia pulled level for Egypt in the barely after second minute before Hannah Badr and Farah Awadalla took their turns to score a goal each and made it 3-1 past the local team who are well adapted to the ground.

The local women however did not slacken and it was Th Tanna who completed her double and made it 2-3 till the end of the first chukker.

Hannah Bradar who led the Egypt attack in this game had her second goal in the opening minute of the second chukker and gave her team a two goal cushion but Khundongbam Habe cut the gap by a goal in the second minute before team captain Khundongbam Habe fired home twice and completed the turnaround (5-4 lead) .

The third chukker saw Manipur gain momentum and rack up two more goals through Thoudam Tanna before Hannah Badr pulled back a goal and made it 5-7 till the third chukker.

The last chukker was all about the scoring from the local side as Tanna hit her fifth goal after 1.30 minutes before Khundongban Deventy grabbed two more goals to wrap up the game 10-5 .

Comment