IMPHAL, Mar 20: Singjamei Polo Club bacame the proud owner of the 22nd Governor’s Cup Invitation Polo Tournament edging out Manipur Police Sports Club(B) by 5-4 goals in a nail biting final at Imphal Pologround today.
The Policemen led the early charge as Abung Khuman swing home the opening goal and later teammates T.Pradeepkumar Singh scored another goal just before the whistle in the first chukker.
The unassuming Singjamei Polo Club fired up theirs cylinders in the second chukker with M.Doren Singh connecting two well aimed hits to level 2-2 goals to drew parity and later teammates S.Sadananda Singh adds one more goals to dictate term in the game. With its pride at stake, the Manipur Police rider S.Abungcha Singh storm off with his team third goal to level score with 3-3 goals:
The policemen reorganised themselves in the third chukker and find theirs mark as S.Abunghca Singh came up with the lone goal to post 4-3 goals lead.
However the four and final chukker had a different story as Singjamei Polo Club, snubbed by the policemen in earlier polo tournaments, renewed theirs spirit and made more menancing gallop and were rewarded with S.Sadananda Singh striking home the equaliser and later came up with the title winning goal from Ojit Singh to romp home with the champion title.
Singjamei Polo Club collected Rs 15,000 along with the champion trophy while Manipur Police Sports Club had to be satisfied with Rs 10,000 with the runners up trophy.
Manipur Governor Gurbachan Jagat along with his better half Kiran Jagat and Singjamei Legislature I.Hemochandra Singh attended the final match and later distributed the prizes to the teams. Five veteran polo players also also honoured by the Governor with moneytary assistance.
Governor Gurbachan Jagat while prasing the players in his speech said, Polo-Sagolkangjei which is a played worldwide nowadays, originates from Manipur and the state must be legitimately proud of this. It is one of the assets which identifies Manipur and its people to the people living in India and abroad.
The Governor emphassied on the preservation and development of the ponies as it linked with the development of Manipur. The Governor also lauded the efforts of the Army on theirs part for the promotion and development of polo in the state as the best 8 teams out of the 12 teams from the 3rd 57 Mountain Division Polo Tournament 2012, had been picked up for the Governor Cup Polo Tournament.
Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/singjamei-polo-club-win-the-22nd-governors-cup-invitation-polo-tournament/