HPRC pip 61st Cavalry to emerge champion

Hyderabad: HPRC won the inaugural edition of 61st Cavalry – HPRC Arena Polo Cup beating 61st Cavalry 7 – 8. Irrespective of whom the champion is, the ultimate victory was that of the Arena Polo played under lights.

The game started with the ball thrown in by Dr S.K.Joshi IAS – Chief Secretary, Telangana State and after many attacks and defense from both teams Lt. Col Vishal Chauhan scored 2 goals for 61st Cavalry and Mitesh Mehta scored one goal for HPRC taking the total to 2-3 in favour of HPRC who started with a 2-goal advantage.

The second chukker was even faster and the spectators got to see some big shots from both teams where Chaitania Kumar & Khader Siddiqui scored one goal each for Hprc and Lt. Col Vishal only managed to score 1 goal taking the score to 3 - 5 with still Hprc in the lead.

The last and final chukker is where the 61st Cavalry team managed to reduce the gap with 4 goals where Lt. Col Vishal scored 3 and Dfr Illyas Ali scored 1 goal but 1 goal each from Chaitania Kumar and Khader Siddiqui ensured that HPRC emerged winners of the inaugural edition of the 61st Cavalry – HPRC Arena Polo Cup 2019.

The 61st Cavalry – HPRC Arena Polo Cup organised by Hyderabad Polo and Riding Club for the first time was sponsored by Phoenix forever, Volvo and Inhabit and was played between 61st Cavalry polo team and the HPRC polo team. Henceforth it would be a featured event of the Hyderabad Polo Season as a rolling trophy every year, a press release said.

The polo event was the brainchild of Lt. Gen. Amit Sharma PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd.) and Chaitania Kumar - President Hprc and the intention was to create a new Arena Polo Trophy to encourage Arena polo in the country and thus 61st Cavalry – HPRC Arena Polo Cup was conceived.

Representing the 61st Cavalry (Green) was Lt. Col Vishal Chauhan (Capt), Capt Mrityunjay and Dfr Illyas Ali whereas the HPRC team (yellow) was lead by Mitesh Mehta, Chaitania Kumar (Capt), and had Khader Siddiqui and Arsalan Khan sharing chukkers.

The spectacularly weather conditions transformed the game which was played under flood lights at the Hprc Arena Polo Ground, a very well attended event with lot of VIP personalities and well know dignitaries from all walks of life like Dr S.K.Joshi IAS – Chief Secretary, Telangana State, Lt Gen R K Jagga Director Gen. Mechanised Forces, Lt. Gen. Amit Sharma PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd,) Col Garcha (Retd), Brig. Adil Mahmood (Retd.), Col Tarun Sirohi (Retd,) and Ali Khusro Jung were present at the event.