Sargun Saroj/Chandigarh
Indian Navy and 61 Cavalry will face each other in the finals of Maharaja Ranjit Singh National Polo Trophy on Saturday. Two semi-final matches were held at Chandigarh Polo Club on Friday.
In the first semi-final of the day, Indian Navy defeated Army Service Corps (ASC) in a thrilling finish by 10-7. ASC took a slight 4-3 lead in the first round. Dhruvpal Godara scored a hat-trick for Navy while Major Karamat Ali (3 goals) was the key scorer for opposition.
(SUBHEAD)Navy bounced back in the second round with 5-3 in their favour. Key striker Godhara maintained the momentum with two shoots to the goal post reading the scoreline 8-6 at the end of third round. Major Karamat Ali missed two close goals, otherwise round could have been ended in a square. Godhara, once again scored two more goals and seal the win for Navy with 10-7. Naik Ravindra Mang was sole scorer for ASC in this round.
Later, in second semifinal of the day 61 Cavalry outclassed Rajasthan Polo Club (RPC) 7-4.5. The trio of Lt Col Vishal Chauhan, Major Anant Rajpurohit and Captain Anmol Wariach gave 61 Cavalry a lead of 3-1.5. A 15-yard penalty converted by Chauhan strengthened the lead of 61 Cavlary. Thereafter, two back to back two goals from by Alan Shaun Michael gave RPC the lead for the first time with 4.5-4 after scond round. Cavalry used all its experience in the third and fourth rounds by not scoring three goals but avoiding any goal to be conceeded. 61 Cavalry steered their team home with the final scoreline of 7-4.5.
The final match will be played on Saturday at 3:30 pm onwards.
