Men’s HIL: Tamil Nadu Dragons climbs to top spot

CHENNAI:

Chennai Tamil Nadu Dragons pulled off a valiant 5-4 shootout win after a pulsating contest ended 4-4 in regulation time in the Hockey India League at the SDAT–Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Friday. Dragons climbed to the top of the table with seven points from three matches as the league moves to Ranchi from January 11 to 16.

First win for Soorma

Earlier, JSW Soorma HC registered its first win, prevailing 3-1 over Hyderabad Toofans in a shootout after the teams were locked 1-1 at the end of regulation time.

Late strike

Just when it appeared Dragons had sealed the match, following a brilliant deflection by local lad K. Selvaraj, Aditya Lalage stunned the home crowd with a superb goal, smashing it home to force the contest into a shootout.

Dragons replaced first-choice goalkeeper David Harte, who was outstanding throughout the four quarters with a series of fine saves, with Prince Deep Singh for the shootout and it paid off, for the second time. With the tie-breaker locked 4-4, Mohammed Raheel calmly slipped the ball through the legs of Tomas Santiago to clinch victory.

Domene’s heroics in vain

For Pipers, Tomas Domene stood out, scoring a brace in regulation time and converting all four of his shootout attempts, but his efforts went in vain.

For Soorma, skipper Harmanpreet Singh sealed the victory by converting a penalty stroke, awarded after defender Nicolas Della Torre opted for a video referral following a stick-check by Toofans goalkeeper Bikramjit Singh.

The results: TN Dragons 4 (Rohidas 9, Kaufmann 17, Craig 18, Selvaraj 40) drew with SG Pipers 4 (Domene 13, 18-ps, Willot 38-pc, Aditya 59). Dragons won the shootout 5-4.

JSW Soorma HC 1 (Harmanpreet 20-pc) drew with Hyderabad Toofans 1 (Amandeep Lakra 46-pc). Soorma won the shootout 3-1.