Blues ride on Pablo brace, stun Whites for polo title

JAIPUR: Argentinian Pablo Jauretche scored a brace to help Jaipur Blues beat Jaipur Whites and clinch the first-ever 20-goal Rajmata Padmini Devi International Shield at the Rajasthan Polo Club on Saturday. Despite a quality crowd rooting for the ‘Indian’ team Jaipur Whites — comprising of Padmanabh Singh, Sidhant Sharma, Abhimanyu Pathak and Argentina’s 7-handicap player Juan Agustin Garcia Grossi — the outfit missed out on multiple chances from close range to settle for a 3-5 loss in the exhibition match.
The Blues put up a dominant display throughout the match enough to swat their rivals’ few moments of brilliance. After a goalless first chukker, the Blues scored in the very first minute of the second chukker with Lance Watson of South Africa capitalising on a defensive lapse of their rivals. After a change of horses, 7-handicapper Tomas Fernandes Llorente scored a brilliant field goal in the fourth minute to give a 2-0 lead to the Blues. Before the end of the 7-minute period, Pathak came within touching distance of a goal but his shot from 40 yards went wide.
Pathak made amends in the third chukker when the umpires Col. Ravi Rathore and Col. Kuldeep Singh Rathore awarded him a penalty from 30 yards after being wrongly intercepted by Daniel Otamendi of Argentina. He made no mistake striking the ball through the goal post in the third minute and his attack-minded play helped him level the score for Jaipur Whites at 2-2 the very next minute as he snatched the ball in the midfield and raced to the post. However, the deadlock was broken two minutes later, as Pablo overcame resistance from Grossi and Sidhant to help Blues regain the lead at 3-2.
Both teams put frantic efforts in the third chukker and heavy man marking ensured none of them scored till Daniel Otamendi scored in the dying minutes to give a 4-2 lead maneuvering his way through the entire opposition team. Pablo then put his attacking game to the fore and gave an unassailable 5-2 lead in the very first minute of the fourth and final chukker before Grossi pulled one back for the Whites through a 30-yard penalty in the sixth minute. But it was too late an effort.