December 6, 2008

The second semi final took place today between Army and Himalayan Horse and was expected to be a close game to decide which team makes it to play against Sona Polo in the final. Less than a minute into the game Samir Suhag took a hit in from the goal but his horse gave him trouble and the ball was taken away from him. Samir tried to get it back and fouled but the resulting penalty was missed by Simran Shergill. About a minute later Army was fouled and awarded a 30 yard penalty which was attempted by Samir Suhag but unfortunately went wide. With four minutes to go another 60 yard penalty was missed by Ravi Rathore for the Army. Seconds later Himalayan Horse was awarded a penalty from the centre of the ground and Simran hit a great ball to Abhimanu Pathak who missed the tap in. With about 2:30 to go in the 1st chukker Simran hit another shot from the centre of the ground to Adhiraj Singh who advanced the ball and Simran took it over and scored. A minute later Simran took away the ball from the Army near their goal,turned the ball and scored. Seconds before the end of the chukker Vishal Chauhan got the ball and headed towards the Himalayan Horse goal. Adhiraj Singh caught up with him and unfortunately hit the ball out. Himalayan Horse led 2 - 0 at the end of the 1st chukker. At the onset of the 2nd chukker Samir took the 60 yard safety hit and the ball sailed through the goalposts. For most of the chukker the ball kept going back and forth between the two teams and each missed an easy chance to score. A min and a half before the end of the 2nd chukker Ravi Rathore was fouled near the side boards by the stands and Samir Suhag converted the 60 yard penalty. With 30 secs to go in the chukker Abhimanu Pathak headed for the Army goal but Col Gurtej Pandher cleared the ball but Akhil Sirohi got the ball back and added to the tally fro Himalayan Horse who led 3 - 2 at the end of the 2nd chukker. The 3rd chukker was well fought for by both teams with good marking on both sides. They exchanged possession of the ball several times but neither team managed to score and the 3rd chukker remained goal less. The possession kept going back and forth between the teams until the middle of the last chukker. Samir Suhag got an opportunity from the centre of the ground and took the ball to the Himalayan Horse goal with two good hits but the ball went wide. With just over two minutes to go Abhimanu Pathak had the ball and was headed towards the Army goal and was fouled by Samir. Pathak took the 30 yard penalty and easily converted it. It seemed like Army would not be able to recover from this deficit. With under two mins to go in the game the ball was thrown in at the centre followed by a foul by Himalayan Horse. Samir Suhag took the 60 yard hit and converted it with a flyer and reduced the deficit to one goal. The ball was trrown in and with less than 40 secs to go in the game Vishal Chauhan made a run for the Himalayan Horse goal. Samir Suhag took over and shot the ball through the goal and equalised the score at 4 - 4 with only about 30 secs before regulation play ended. However, Himalayan Horse was determined to win and ran towards the Army goal. The umpires blew the whistle just before the ball went through the goal posts. However, their decision was over ruled by the referee Brig VP Singh and the game was awarded to Himalayan Horse as the ball had gone through the goal posts. Himalayan Horse won the match 5 - 4 and advanced to the final where they would meet Sona Polo.

Dec 5, 2008

The first semi final was played between Sona Polo and Sahgal Stud.  Within the first minute Gaurav Sahgal opened the account for Sahgal Stud.  Sona Polo tried to equalise but the ball went wide.  Uday Kalaan took a shoot at Sahgal Stud's goal but he too missed.  Sahgal Stud gave a foul and Ransher Singh converted it for Sona Polo.  The score was tied at one goal a piece.  Sunjay Kapur fouled at the center and Sahgal Stud were awarded a 60 yard penalty but that was missed too.  Towards the end of the 1st chukker Manupal Godara made a run for the goal and passed to Lokendra Singh who was fouled and then converted a 5 yard spot hit.  Sahgal Stud led 2 - 1 at the end of the chukker.  In the first minute of the 2nd chukker Gaurav Sahgal took the ball towards Sona Polo's goal but Lokendra Singh missed the tap into the goal.  Soon after that Ransher Singh, whose great form continued from the previous day, scored a goal for Sona Polo.  With three minutes to go in the 2nd chukker Angad Kalaan took a shot at the goal but it went wide.  A minute later Manupal fouled but Ransher missed a 60 yard penalty.  A few seconds later Manu headed towards goal, Gaurav Sahgal took over, and Manupal who was following converted the goal.  Sahgal Stud led 3 - 2.  In the dying seconds of the 2nd chukker Gaurav Sahgal took a shot towards the goal and Manupal put it in.  Sahgal Stud led Sona Polo 4 - 2 at the end of the 2nd chukker.  Thirty seconds into the 3rd ckukker Manupal mishit the ball, got a chance to back it but missed.  Ransher capatilised and scored for Sona Polo.  A minute later Angad had the ball and headed towards the Sahgal Stud goal and was fouled by Lokendra Singh.  Angad took the 60 yard penalty hit and the ball was going wide but Sunjay Kapur managed to get his stick to the ball and it went through the goal posts.  The scores were now tied at 4 - 4.  Another minute later Angad had the ball near the 60 yard mark along the side boards.  Gaurav Sahgal fouled hit and Sona were awarded a 40 yard penalty which Ransher Singh converted easily.  Halfway through the 3rd chukker Sahgal Stud got a penalty from the centre of the ground.  Loku passed the ball to Gaurav Sahgal who made no mistake and put it in.  With under two minutes to go in the 3rd chukker Uday Kalaan took the hit in but Loku managed to get the ball back and scored.  About 30 seconds later Uday took a penalty hit from the centre of the ground and passed it to Ransher who went towards the goal but got fouled and then converted the 5 yard spot hit.  In the last 20 seconds of the 3rd chukker Rajesh Sahgal fouled Sunjay Kapur and Ransher once again converted the resulting 60 yard penalty shot.  Sona Polo led 7 - 6 at the start of the 4th chukker.  In the first 30 seconds Uday passed to Angad who scored.  Another goal was scored for Sona Polo a minute later through an Angad, Uday combination with Angad putting in the ball.  Sona Polo now led 9 - 6.  With about 4 mins to go Sahgal got a 40 yard penalty which was converted by Manupal.  They were down by just 2 goals.  However, they did not manage to get close.  Angad Kalaan score another goal with Lokendra trying to back it.  With 2 minutes to go in the game Sahgal Stud got a 60 yard penalty but failed to convert.  In the last 40 seconds Manu fouled near the goal and Ransher Singh, the man of the match, easily converted the 30 yard penalty.  Sona Polo won the match 11 - 7.

Dec 4, 2008

The match between Sona Polo and Army was an exciting game and went down to the wire.  At the end of the 1st chukker Army was ahead 2 -1.  Fifteen seconds into the start of the 2nd chukker Army had a 60 yard penalty but Samir Suhag's shot sailed wide over the goal posts.  A little later Sunjay Kapur, patron of Sona Polo, carried the ball towards the Army goal and was fouled near the goal mouth.  Ransher scored to level the score at 2 - 2.  A couple minutes later Ravi Rathore took the ball near the grandstand and ran to goal and scored for Army.  A few seconds later Angad Kalaan passed the ball to Ransher, who was unmarked, and Ransher made no mistake and put the ball into the goal.  In the dying moments of the 2nd chukker Army's Col Pandher put one into Sona Polo's goal. Army was still ahead 4 - 3 at the end of the 2nd chukker.  Most of the action was in the 3rd chukker.  A minute into the 3rd chukker, Angad Kalaan made a run to the goal but the ball stopped inches from the goal and was hit out by one of the Army players.  Angad took the 60 yard safety hit but it was blocked, followed by a foul in favour of Army - a missed opportunity for Sona Polo.  Angad redeemed 45 seconds later as he scored one for Sona Polo.  The teams were now tied at 4 goals a piece.  With 4:30 to go in the 3rd chukker Army was awarded a 60 yard penalty which Samir Suhag converted with a hit along the ground.  About two minutes later Ransher Singh took the ball from the sideline at the right side of the stands all the way into Army's goal on the left side.  A little later Uday Kalaan took the ball to the right side goal with a good cut shot into Army's goal.  With 5 seconds to go, Ransher who was unmarked most of the game, scored another one for Sona Polo.  The 3rd chukker was was a great chukker for Sona and turned the game in their favour.  They led 7 -5 at the end of the 3rd chukker.  With a chukker to go Army was down by 2 goals after having lost the momentum in the previous chukker.  With about two minutes to go in the chukker Gurtej Pandher took a good near side shot and scored one for Army and put them just one goal away.  With 40 seconds to go in the game Army got a 60 yard penalty however, Samir's shot did not make it through.  With less than 40 secs left it looked like Army was all but done.  However, somehow they managed to get the ball back near the centre of the field with about ten seconds remaining and Samir made a run to the goal.  With the ball just a few feet away from a certain goal Angad rode off Samir and Ransher cleared the ball and deprived Army the chance to equalise.  Sona Polo won the match 7 - 6.

Dec 3, 2008

The game started with Sahgal Stud's Gaurav Sahgal taking the ball right from the throw in and into the goal of Himalayan Horse.  It was a start to what would seem to be a very interesting game.  However, the tables turned right in the 1st chukker.  Simran Shergill who played a great game for Himalayan Horse, scored two quick goals on either side of the ground, followed by another goal with 4 mins to go in the first chukker.  Manupal Godara took a shot at goal to try and catch up but it went wide.  If this was not enough, Akhil Sirohi scored another goal for Himalayan Horse through a good pass by Simran Shergill.  They led 4 - 1 at the end of the 1st chukker.  In the 2nd chukker Manupal tried a 60 yard shot but it was blocked by Himalayan Horse. Akhil Sorohi again converted from a pass by Simran.  Around the middle of the chukker Manupal finally scored a goal for his team.  Himalayan Horse responded by scoring another goal when Rajesh Sahgal missed a back hander near their own goal.  With 1.5 mins to go in the 2nd chukker Simran missed a hit in and Gaurav Sahgal tipped the ball in for Sahgal Stud.  Himalayan Horse led 6-3 at the end of the 2nd chukker. 

Adhiraj Singh, Amhimanu Pathak, Akhil Sirohi and Simran Shergill had great strategy and managed to neutralise Sahgal Stud's two top  4-goal players, Lokendra Singh and Manupal Godara.  No matter where the ball was, Himalayan Horse always had a player in the right position. In the latter half of the 3rd chukker Simran ran with the ball and took two big hits, the second of which went high through Sahgal Stud's goal. The only other goal to be scored in the 3rd chukker was by Sahgal Stud through a 30 yard penalty. At the end of the 3rd chukker Himalayan Horse led Sahgal Stud 7 - 4. The last chukker once again belonged to Himalayan Horse. Akhil took a near side shot into goal which was blocked by Sahgal Stud, however, Abhimanu Pathak took a back hander and put it into the goal.  In the middle of the 4th chukker Abhimanu Pathak once again put a ball through Sahgal Stud's goal. With about a minute to go in the game Simran Shergill made a run for goal with Manupal Godara riding him off, but managed to put the ball into the goal.  Simran was unbeatable today.  He could do no wrong.  Himalayan Horse easily won the match with a score of 11 - 4.