The Waveriders went ahead with a fine strike by Simon Child, Austin Smith drew the hosts level through a drag flick on a PC with a little bit of variation. And in the final quarter, Manpreet Singh’s strike on PC sealed the title for the hosts, who had 12th man with them i.e. a packed capacity crowd.
Ranchi Rhions Celebrating with young Mandeep Singh on their shoulders
Ranchi Rhions the Hockey India League 2013 Champions
Manpreet Singh and Moritz Fürste lifting the HIL Trophy
Hero Player of the Tournament ( Rs 25,00,000/-): Sardar Singh
‘Ponty Chadha Trophy’ for Upcoming Player of the Tournament ( Rs 20,00,000/-): Mandeep Singh
‘Airtel Award’ for Most Goals in the Tournament ( Rs 10,00,000/-): Delhi Waveriders
Ranchi, 10 January 2013: Consistent Delhi Waveriders and fluent Ranchi Rhinos will fight it out in front of Ranchi crowd to decide who will be crowned the winner of the inaugural Hero Hockey India to get richer by Rs 2.5 crore on Sunday.
The two teams booked a date in the summit clash in contrasting fashion with the Rhinos clinching the victory (4-2) over Uttar Pradesh Wizards in the first semi-final, while Waveriders outplayed the Warriors but required a 68th minute strike from Lloyd Norris Jones to seal a 3-1 victory on Saturday. Continue reading →
Ranchi, 09 February 2013: Delhi Waveriders booked summit clash against Ranchi Rhinos in the Hero Hockey India League by beating Jaypee Punjab Warriors 3-1 in the second semi-final at Birsa Munda Astroturf Hockey Stadium on Saturday.
Lloyd Norris-Jones scored 3rd goal of Delhi Waveriders on this run down in a counter attack
Goals from Andres Mir Bel, Rupinder Pal Singh and Lloyd Norris-Jones were enough to put Waveriders, the group toppers of the league stage, in the final. Warriors would now play with Uttar Pradesh Wizards for the third place play-off.
The first 10 minutes of the match was played a in the midfield . There were not too many clear scoring opportunities in that period, but it all changed when Waveriders earned a penalty corner. Ignace Tirkey, under no pressure, failed to stop a regulation ball, which rose from his stick, and hit his body. In a surprise variation, Rupinder Pal Singh pretended to be taking the drag flick, but actually just held the ball for Andres Mir Bel, who slotted home the strike, beating charging goalie Bharat Chetri to put Waveriders ahead. Continue reading →
Hockey India League Points Table after the completion of league stage matches
The five team tournament has seen 30 round-robin matches to eliminate Ric Charlesworth coached Mumbai Magicians, who could just manage to win only match of their 12 league matches. Rest of the teams have played each other thrice with mixed results. Lucknow based Wizards have been most unpredictable in the tournament and are the only team who defeated the table toppers Delhi Waveriders in the league stage and settled the scores with 1 draw, 1 win and 1 loss against the title favorites and also only to get defeated by eliminated side Magicians.
The unpredictable Wizards, who are coached by Roelant Oltmans, will face the Rhinos coached by Gregg Clark, while Barry Dancer’s Warriors will be facing Dr AK Bansal’s Waveriders in the semi finals. As the league stage progressed towards the end, teams looked better in their structure of play and on-field communications, it will be interesting to see how these teams coached in four different styles will play tactically in the knock out stage of the tournament.
Preview Semi 1: Ranchi Rhinos begin favourites against UP Wizards on home turf Continue reading →
New Delhi, 07 February 2013: Uttar Pradesh Wizards finished their league engagements in the Hero Hockey India League on a high, beating league toppers Delhi Waveriders 4-1 at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi.
Leandro Negre (FIH President) after introdution before Delhi vs UP match
By handing Waveriders their first defeat of the tournament, Wizards ensured that they would avoid AK Bansal’s boys in the semis. Wizards finished third in the league, and would take on second placed Ranchi Rhinos in the semis. Waveriders would face fourth placed Jaypee Punjab Warriors in the other semi-final.
It turned out to be one of the rare matches in the tournament where there were no goals scored in the first half. However, the game was not dull by any means in the first two quarters. Waveriders’ skipper Sardar Singh made some good moves from the midfield, and made an excellent pass to Akashdeep Singh in the second quarter, although Akashdeep was unable to stop the ball. Continue reading →
New Delhi, 6 February 2013: Record chasing Delhi Waveriders would come across an inspired Uttar Pradesh Wizards in their final league encounter on 7 February, the result of which will also decide the semi-final line-up of the inaugural Hero Hockey India League.
Youngsters Imran Khan and Talwinder Singh (Delhi Waveriders) in a training session
The Waveriders have a golden opportunity to become the first team in the Hero HIL to reach the last four stage without losing a single match and given the form they are in, the record looks a definitely possibility for the league leaders in front of their home crowd at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.
However, the Wizards will definitely go all out to end the Waveriders unbeaten run and avoid the leaders in the semi-final.
The Wizards, who are one of the only two teams to have held the Waveriders to a draw in their 11 matches so far, are currently fourth in the standings with 27 points and a victory over the hosts on Thursday could catapult them to the third spot above the Jaypee Punjab Warriors, who completed their league commitments on 29 points with a loss against Waveriders. Continue reading →
