Hockey News: With the return of Hockey India League after 7 years, a new era will begin in Indian hockey and in the first match on Saturday, Delhi SG Pipers will play Gonasika of Visakhapatnam.
In the men’s category, 8 teams will try their best for the title. Women’s league is also being started for the first time in which four teams will play from January 12. The men’s category matches will continue till February 1 at Birsa Munda Stadium. The first phase of the matches will be held from December 28 to January 18 in which the teams will play each other once.
The second phase will start from January 19, in which the teams will be divided into two pools. Pool A features Delhi SG Pipers, Srechi Rar Bengal Tigers, Surma Hockey Club, Vedanta Kalinga Lancers and Pool B features Gonasika, Hyderabad Hurricanes, Tamil Nadu Dragons and UP Rudras. The top four teams from both pools will play the semi-finals.
Delhi, co-captained by Olympic medalist Shamsher Singh and Australia’s Jack Whetton, has a strong team and the players are in high spirits after the camp in Bhubaneswar before the tournament. Shamsher said-
Our players are very excited to play against Gonasika. Our preparation has been very good and some sessions were also organized for team coordination. We have to follow the strategy made by the coaches and we will focus match by match.
Gonasika captain Manpreet Singh said, “It is time to implement what we have learned in practice. We have played with and against these players before, so we will try to give our best performance.”
