India march into World Cup finals
polo
In an exciting zonal play-off match played in Tehran last month, India beat Pakistan 8-7 to enter the finals of the polo World Cup scheduled to be held this October in Sydney, Australia.
The Federation of International Polo conducts the World Cup, a 14-goal tournament every three years amongst FIP members. Elimination rounds are played on a zonal basis and one country from each zone enters the finals.
India fall in Zone E, who had three other teams, Pakistan, Iran and South Africa.
India played their inaugural match against hosts Iran.It was a close contest and India won 108. India then beat South Africa in another tight contest, 6-5. Scores were level at 5-5 at the end of the forth chukker. In the sudden-death fifth chukker, Padmanabh Singh scored the golden goal for India.
In the last match against Pakistan, both teams played well but India put pressure on Pakistan from the very beginning of the first chukker and scored quick goals.
In the last chukker, the score was 7-7. However, in the dying minutes of the match, India got a penalty, which Dhruvpal Godara converted to seal the win.
India were represented by Ravi Rathore (+5, capt), Dhruvpal Godara (+5), Angad Kalaan (+4), Siddhant Sharma (+3), Padmanabh Singh (+2), Pranav Kapur (+2). Coach: Uday Kalaan.
Preparation for the matches began at a fitness/training camp at the 61 Cavalry base regiment in Jaipur.
The team then travelled to Johannesburg, South Africa, where for two weeks there was another rigorous camp with practice matches to further hone the players.
Ravi Rathore was the flag bearer of the country, his regiment, 61st Cavalry and the polo organisation, as he is individually the only Indian player to have achieved the rare feat of being part of the India team for five successive World Cups, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2014 and 2017, and led in two — 2014 and 2017. He is also the first army officer in the last 17 years to achieve a plus-five handicap, has won the national championship thrice in the last 10 years and has to his credit, two gold medals, at Teheran and earlier in the 2011 Zone D (Asia-Africa-Australia).