34th Men's, 13th Women's and 1st Junior State Polo Tournament 2018 begins
Source: The Sangai Express / DIPR

Imphal, January 04 2018: The 34th Men's and 13th Women's and 1st Junior Boys' under 16 State Polo Tournament 2018 kicked off today at Mapal Kangjeibung (Pologround) today.

The tournament organised by the All Manipur Polo Association(AMPA) was based on the theme " Save Pony Save Polo Save Pologround" .

The inaugural function of the tournament was attended by PDS, Consumer Affairs, Revenue and Weight and Measures Minister, Karam Shyam as the chief guest and president, All Manipur Polo Association, Dr Konsam Saratchandra Singh as the president.

Stressing on the main theme of the tournament, Minister Karam Shyam said that "We must make strenuous efforts to save the ponies of Manipur considering the fact that the animal occupies a unique place for identifying the State at the global level."

34th Men's, 13th Women's and 1st Junior State Polo Tournament 2018 begins

He appealed the polo associations of the State to make a collaborative effort to increase the total strength of the ponies and protect the grazing fields otherwise they would be on the verge of extinction after few years.

He expressed his readiness to contribute his best if the public want to create a separate reserved habitat for promoting the dwelling places of these animals and their preservation.

"Government is ready to shoulder the big responsibility of saving the ponies of Manipur and promote polo", he said.

He also donated Rs 25000 to the organising committee.

Dr Konsam Saratchandra said, "We need to invest skills, wisdom and money to make the polo survive as it is different from other games" .

The opening match of the 13th Women's State Polo Tournament 2018 was played between Thangmeiband Youth Polo Club (yellow jerseys) and K&M Memorial Riding School, Singjamei (orange jerseys).

Kh Sunil Kumar was the match referee while Laishram Thomson and T Pradeep Kumar Singh took charge as mounted umpires in the match.

Thangmeiband Youth Polo Club (TYPC) led the first chukker but the Singjamei side resurged in the remaining chukkers to finished the game in a 4-4 draw.

Oinam Victoria opened the goal account for TYPC who also scored her second goal in the last chukker.

Khundongbam Deventy and Khundongbam Habe Devi contributed one goal each in the second and the third chukkers.

K&M Memorial Riding School were able to score three goals in the second chukker through S Sangita (2 goals) and Th Tanna (1 goal).

The last goal of the Singjamei side was scored by Sangita in the fourth chukker.

The opening match of the 34th Men's State Level Polo Tournament saw CRPF Polo Team thrashed Director General Assam Rifles (DGAR) Polo Team 10-1 .

The CRPF team ran riot over DGAR Polo team right from the beginning.

O Samarjit and A Samananda scored two goals in the first chukker to hand a 2-0 lead to CRPF Polo Team.

Samarjit, Samananda and W Dhiken Singh then scored one goal each in the second chukker while Sushilo of DGAR team scored one goal to make the score read 5-1 .

The third chukker went to the hero of the day, A Samananda who struck three goals alone in the third chukker and extended the lead to 8-1.O Samarjit and H Dracula took their turns to score one goal each in the fourth chukker and gave the CRPF side a convincing 10-1 victory.