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 the Hockey India League 2013 Champions
Ranchi Rhions Celebrating with young Mandeep Singh on their shoulders
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 February 2013: Four goals, including a golden goal from skipper Raghunath right in the last minute of extra time earned Uttar Pradesh Wizards a 4-3 win over Jaypee Punjab Warriors in an absolute thriller of a third place play-off game of the Hero Hockey India League at Birsa Munda Astroturf Hockey Stadium on Sunday.
V R Raghunath won bronze for Uttar Pradesh Wizards
Trailing 0-3 at one stage, Wizards came back with Raghunath scoring a hat-trick, all through drag flicks, to force and extra time. Raghunath then scored his fourth from another drag flick to ensure that Wizards got the bronze medal, and earned prize money of Rs 75 lakhs.
Jaypee Punjab Warriors completely dominated the first quarter. They showed a lot of intensity, and aggression, and were rewarded for it with a couple of goals. Gurmail Singh entered the Wizards’ D, and put the ball on Nithin’s leg to earn Warriors their first penalty corner. Mark Knowles took the drag flick, and fired the ball low to the right of diving Bazeley. The ball beat Bazeley for pace and angle and entered the net to give Warriors the lead. 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 →
Jalandhar, 05 February 2013: Jaypee Punjab Warriors ended the league phase of the Hero Hockey India League on a disappointing note, being beaten 2-3 by Delhi Waveriders at their home ground Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar.
Sardar Singh (Delhi Waveriders’ Captain) in action against Punjab Warriors
Warriors, who have already sealed their place in the semi-finals, lost their second home game in two days, being beaten 3-2 by Ranchi Rhinos on Monday. For Waveriders, yet to be beaten in the tournament, Rupinder Pal Singh scored with a drag flick, before Oscar Deecke and Lloyd Norris-Jones scored a goal each.
With both teams having already booked their place in the semis, the game was expected to be played at good pace, and that’s what happened at the start. After both teams made one attack each, Delhi Waveriders earned a penalty corner in the seventh minute, as Simon Child launched the move and Danish Mujtaba’s push hit a Warriors’ defender. Rupinder Pal Singh completely bamboozled Warriors goalkeeper Jaap Stockmann with his drag flick, as the Dutchman went to his left, while the ball went right in the centre of the goalpost. Continue reading →
