15th Manipur Polo International Manipur beat USA 7-4 to complete league stage sweep, to play Colombia in final showdown

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Nov 27 : Hosts India-B (Manipur) consolidated themselves on top of the 15th Manipur Polo International league table as they beat USA 7-4 for the fourth straight win in the tournament today at Mapal Kangjeibung.
Eventually, Manipur qualified for the final alongside league runners up Colombia, who had won twice and drawn once in four league matches. The final match is slated for November 29.
Manipur rode on exemplary riding and scoring performances from T Pradeepkumar and T Leishemba today to outlast USA 7-4.
USA enjoyed a slender 1-0 lead in the first chukker with Daniel Nathan Coleman finding the opener but Manipur overturned the lead to 2-1 with Pradeepkumar scoring twice in the following chukker.
The third chukker saw Pradeepkumar and S Bonbon adding a goal apiece for Manipur against one for USA scored by Elizabeth Lewis Kofme off a penalty to make it 4-2.
The final chukker meanwhile witnessed USA adding twice against a treble from T Leishemba for Manipur to make the final scoreline read 7-4.
Elizabeth converted yet another penalty for USA before Zackary Coleman added on in the 6th minute as Leishemba found his first goal 2nd minutes into the chukker before scoring twice in the 4th minute.
With the loss, USA’s hopes of qualifying for the final came to an end.
Notably, Manipur had won 9-4 against India-C (Chhattisgarh) in the first match before securing a 11-7 win over India-A, 10-3 against Colombia in the following matches.
Meanwhile, Colombia had won 6-4 against USA before they played out an 8-8 draw with India-A and won 10-4 against Chhattisgarh. They lost 3-10 to Manipur in their final league match to finish league runners up.