Kalinga Lancers To Clash UP Wizards In HIL Opener
17 January, Bhubaneswar
The Hockey India League (HIL) is all set to kick off its fourth edition with the opening tie between hosts Kalinga Lancers and Uttar Pradesh Wizards at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar tomorrow.
The six team annual franchise based hockey league, is scheduled to be played across six venues in India from January 18 to February 21.The match will be preceded by a grand opening ceremony depicting the folk culture of Odisha. Going into the match, both the teams have been training hard to ensure the best results.
The Lancers, led by star German midfielder Moritz Fuerste have been putting in extra efforts to give a lot to rejoice for the local audience. Lancers, under the coaching of star Australian Mark Hagger has been playing practice matches against local teams and all the players seem to be in great comfort playing with each other .
Ahead of the important clash, Mark said, We have a good team and the boys over the last one week have really gelled in well, which adds to our advantage. Having said that we cannot underestimate the opponents specially when their team consists of experienced national and international stars. We are working hard and are hopeful that will leave a big smile for our fans in Bhubaneshwar post our game tomorrow.
The Wizards, led by star drag flicker VR Raghunath have been in the city for the last three days and looks in great shape without any major injury scares.
The Wizards consists of stalwarts like Jamie Dwyer from Australia and star internationals like Tobias Hauke from Germany, Gonzalo Peillat from Argentina along with acclaimed Indians like PR Sreejesh, Akashdeep Singh and Raghunath.
This year would also mark the debut season of Roger Van Gent as the head coach of the UP Wizards.
We are working hard and are not leaving any stones unturned to see a bright start to our campaign. The boys seem to be in great shape and are comfortable playing with each other. There are no injury concerns within the team and this will allow us to test new combinations, said Roger Van Gent.
The Kalinga stadium, which will be the host to the opener has a capacity of 5000 and is ready to witness a full house on the opening day.