10th Apr 2006
by Peter Abisheganaden, photos by Natasha Mustapha are copyright of Equestrian.Com.My
The Hookahs came
from two goals behind to beat the RSPC Sheikhs 4-3 in the Sariman Cup
in the Hookahs Polo Tournament at the Royal Selangor Polo Club. It was
a tense and close fought encounter. The Sheikhs, led by Dato’ Mohamed
Moiz and playing with Shaik Reismann, Rizal Ramli and William Unwin got
off to a quick start. They tallied two goals in the first two minutes.
The
Hookahs of Peter Abisheganaden, Johan Indot and Jagdeep Kairon had
their guest professional Edham Shaharuddin in outstanding form. They
clawed their way back into the game with two goals Johan, before The
Sheikhs scored another to make it 3-2 in their favour at half time.
The
polo was all about man-marking and control on a wet and cut-up field.
Jag and William Unwin played their own private game, marking each other
throughout the game. Dato' Mohamed Moiz and Shaik Reismann are still
learning each other's game, even though they have played in Pattaya and
Manila recently.
It
was the combination of Peter and Edham who turned the game around. In
the third chukka Peter played a backhand pass off his own goal-line to
Edham, who ran the length of the field to score a superb goal at the
other end to tie the score.
Edham then added a 60 yard penalty in the closing minutes of the tie to win the game for The Hookahs.
Playing
in the cup named after his long-time Royal Pahang team-mate and close
friend, Sariman Sharil, who passed away last month, Edham was
deservedly named Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.
Dato’ Mohamed Moiz’s Donna Luze took the honour of Best Playing Pony of the Hookahs Polo Tournament.
Tengku Muhaini of Royal Pahang Polo Club gave away the Sariman Cup to the Hookahs Team at the prize-giving last night.
Competitive
polo was cancelled on Sunday because of heavy overnight rain, but a 6
chukka non-competitive exhibition match was played. The polo got the
crowd stirred up, and they then hit the bar and FOGAL Meat Market’s BBQ
with a vengeance.
Harald
Link and Nicholas Kosmatos’ Thailand Polo were easy winners of the Sri
Jentayu Cup. With Argentine pro Frederico Bachmann controlling play,
they cruised past a Bukit Kiara team that featured Khairy Jamaluddin on
Friday and Quzier Ambak on Saturday. Thailand Polo was joined by
Hookahs co-sponsor Matthew Ma.
Datuk Seri General Azumi, chairman of Sri Jentayu was on hand to present the Sri Jentayu Cup to Thailand Polo.
Ranhill
edged RSPC Camels 5-4 in the Jepamajosa Cup. Ali Mazlan captained the
Ranhill team, while Amran Selamat led the Camels, which also featured
Daryl Yeap, Camilla Sugden and Muhd Iskandar Alias.
RSPC
Godolphin were 7-1 winners over RSPC Darley in the B Division’s
IndoChine Cup. Major Mansor Zain was named MVP in the B Division.
In the C Division DBKL won the Tempawan Trophy, beating PDRM by 6 goals to 5. Mahat Limat took MVP honours.
RSPC
Bedouins beat hot favourites DBKL in the Stevenson Cup match. Resident
RSPC pro Jamil Mordipi was in outstanding form, but it was Abdul Razak
Nazahdin who was voted MVP.
Mr. Sudesh Iyer, President of World Media Group gave away the prizes for the C & D Divisions.
Matthew
Ma gave away the IndoChine Cup. IndoChine sponsored the excellent
buffet on Friday and Sunday. Their margaritas and lychee cocktails on
Sunday night made for a great party. Thank you Matthew.
With
Tiger Beer and cocktails in free flow, it was quite a farewell party.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, Malaysian rock star
Ella gave us an impromptu performance that almost brought the house
down!
It
brought to a close three days of partying at the Hookahs Polo
Tournament. Yes, there was plenty of good polo, and there was plenty of
good wine, courtesy of Wine Gourmet, Tiger Beer from Anchor Guiness
Berhad. Saturday Night’s dinner by Khaana Peena as part of Bollywood
Nite was the best North Indian food we’ve ever had in Malaysia. It was truly outstanding.
Thanks to all the sponsors for making this tournament a success. The main sponsors were Sri Jentayu, InOilCo, Transtheme, NSS, and IndoChine. Co-sponsors were Credit Suisse, Khaana Peena, Crowne Plaza Mutiara Kuala Lumpur, Wine Gourmet, Guiness Anchor, Jaeger LeCoultre, Lecka Lecka and Spa Indrani.
If
you were there, thanks for making the Hookahs Polo Tournament one of
the best tournaments we’ve ever had at the Royal Selangor Polo Club.
It was a blast!
Article reproduced from Equestrian.Com.My with permission.