Delhi Wave Riders News

Ranchi, 31^st January 2013: Ranchi Rhinos would look to catch up with Delhi Waveriders by handing them their first league defeat in the inaugural edition of the Hero Hockey India League when the two teams face off for the third and final time in the league stage here at the Astroturf Hockey Stadium on Friday.

The top two teams in standings have so far played two exciting matches with the visitors winning the first encounter 5-4 here while the Rhinos came back from a goal down in the final quarter to hold the Waveriders to a 2-2 draw in their second meeting in Delhi.

The Rhinos now are keen to settle the score after having come close to an upset on Wednesday. After eight matches, the Waveriders lead the standings with 34 points and are currently the only unbeaten team in the competition. The Rhinos, with five wins, a draw and two loses, are second with 29 points.

If the Rhinos manage to win Friday’s tie by at least a four goal margin then they can leapfrog the Waveriders in the standings on better goal-difference. However, given the display of their visitors so far in the tournament, the local side would only be hoping to hand them their first loss in the tournament.

The Rhinos strive on their home support and only the Waveriders have so far managed to breach their citadel. But that was before the hosts hit a purple patch in the competition.

Just like the Waveriders, the Rhinos have also been in exceptional form in their last four encounters and would take confidence from the fact that they could pressurise the league leaders on counter attacks when the two teams met for the last time.

Rhinos’ striker Mandeep Singh is currently the second highest goal scorer in the tournament and is the only one in the top five to have all field goals to his credit. He will be keen to add to his tally and so would be their penalty corner specialist Ashley Jackson.

Coach Gregg Clark, said, “We played well yesterday and would look to repeat yesterdays performance. We plan on improving certain aspects that we took back from yesterday’s game. We will definitely give them a tough challenge tomorrow”.

Coach Ajay Kumar Bansal said, “We plan to work on some quick passes and team coordination strategy for tomorrow’s match. We have a strong team and we plan to use that against them. Birendra Lakra is one of their game makers and we will look out for him.”

The Hero Hockey India League is organised by Hockey India with official sanction from the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The inaugural season is being played from January 14 to February 10, 2013 in a home-and-away format. The five franchisee-based teams, consisting of the top hockey players from India and around the world, will compete for the prestigious trophy. Hero Motocorp Ltd. is the Title Sponsor of the league while Airtel is the Associate Sponsor. Star Sports, who is the Broadcast Partner, will be telecasting all matches live.

Fridays game 1^st February: Ranchi Rhinos vs Delhi Waveriders at the Astroturf Hockey Stadium at 8 p.m.