Players of the Tigers team pose after defeating Warriors at the Hyderabad Polo & Riding Club on Thursday.

The HPRC Arena Polo Tournament opened on Thursday evening at the Hyderabad Polo & Riding Club’s arena in Aziznagar with two lively pool matches under lights. HPRC Tigers edged HPRC Warriors 10-7 in the Pool ‘A’ opener, and HPRC Artists beat HPRC Devils 11-5 in Pool ‘B’, with a combined 33 goals across six chukkers setting the tone for the four-day club tournament.

The opening match was decided by one explosive chukker. Level at 2-2 after the first, Tigers found their rhythm in the second, scoring six times to Warriors’ three — Vishal Singh struck three of them, Chaitania Kumar 2 and Arjun Reddy 1. The Warriors never stopped coming — Saif Attari, who scored all 7 of his side’s goals, matched the Tigers goal for goal in the first and third chukkers — but the three-goal cushion from the second period proved decisive.

Vishal Singh finished with 6 goals, Chaitania Kumar 3 and Arjun Reddy 1 for Tigers. Attari’s 7 was the standout individual effort of the night that was presented by Inhabit — The Inside Story.

In another match, Artists set the pace from the first throw-in, taking the opening chukker 3-0 through Vedanth Lohia’s brace and an Arsalan Khan goal, and pulled clear with a 5-2 second chukker in which Khan scored 4. Devils rallied strongly in the third, Shahbaz scored 3 of his 4 goals in the final period to share the chukker 3-3, but the early deficit was too large. Khan finished with 6 goals and Lohia 3 for Artists, and Shehzad Khan scored in each of the last two chukkers for a well-taken 2. Shahbaz (4) and Amogh (1) scored for Devils.

After the first day’s action, Tigers lead Pool ‘A’ and Artists lead Pool ‘B’ with two points each. Chargers (Pool ‘A’) and Titans (Pool ‘B’) open their campaigns on Friday. Pool matches are played over three chukkers of 6 minutes 30 seconds each. Sunday’s Final is to be played over four.

The Teams: Tigers: Chaitania Kumar, Vishal Singh, Arjun Reddy; Warriors: Saif Attari, Harsh, Qutub Ansari; Chargers: Siddharth Mukerjee, Nithin Reddy, Vamsi; Artists: Arsalan Khan, Vedanth Lohia, Shehzad Khan; Devils: Shabaz, Amogh, Sri; Titans: Arun Jupally, Naresh, Ajit, Akash.

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