A wintery Sunday afternoon saw Delhi’s cognoscenti descend at the Jaipur Polo Ground to witness a fierce contest between Sona Polo and Sahara Warriors. In a nail-biting finish, with the scoreboard reading 8-all goals at the end of the sixth chukker, the hard-fought match went into extra time with the golden goal scored by Matthew Perry, sealing the fate of the Championship.
Sahara Warriors emerged victorious beating crowd favourites Sona Polo by 9-8 goals. The Indian Open Polo Championship, the oldest trophy at stake on the Indian polo circuit, kicked-off with the league rounds from Wednesday with the top 3 teams of the country, Sona Polo, Sahara Warriors and Jindal Panther-Garcha Lions participating.
The Indian Open Polo Championship is the highest level of polo played in India and an Indian player’s career stands incomplete without winning the Indian Polo Championship. Presented by the Indian Polo Association (IPA), the Indian Open Trophy is steeped in 118 years of history and heritage and has enjoyed the patronage of the Indian Army and some of its finest players.
Matthew Perry of Sahara Warriors was adjudged the “Most Valuable Player”, while “Raffa’’ mare of Salim Azmi was declared the “Best Polo Pony” of the match.
At the 2018 edition, polo aficionados witnessed the top Indian polo professionals and international polo stars at the premier tourney, which is also considered as the National Championship for the heritage sport of Polo. Spotted among the dignitaries were New Zealand High Commissioner H.E. Joanna Kempkers, Ambassador of Finland, H.E. Nina Vaskunlahti, Ravi Jaipuria, Devyani Jaipuria, Sunjay Kapur, Naveen Jindal, Sawai Padmanabh Singh, Maharaj Narendra Singh, Vikramaditya Singh & wife Chitrangada Raje, Adhiraj Singh, Sameer Thukral, Jaisal Singh, Kazim Ali Khan, Shaleen & Anu Jain, Shefali Talwar amongst others.
This year, the Indian Open Championship is being supported by Panasonic, TWG, ONGC, Indian Oil Corporation, Petronet and Taj Mahal, New Delhi. This Tournament has been promoted by Equisport for the past 18 years.
