Last year’s finalists Kalinga Lancers made amends to lift their maiden Hockey India League title, defeating Dabang Mumbai 4-1 in the final on Sunday.
Dabang Mumbai, who were leaders at the end of the league stage, could not find their best as Kalinga Lancers emerged victorious to claim the purse of Rs 2.5 crore. The runners-up received Rs 1.25 crore.
The Bhubaneswar-based Lancers ruled the pitch with excellent display of skills and team work, and also bagged the ‘fair play trophy’.
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Kalinga Lancers skipper Moritz Fuerste of Germany, who has won three Olympic medals, converted two penalty corners and the team’s Australian import Glenn Turner scored a field goal to seal the issue. A field goal gets two points.
{{/usCountry}}Kalinga Lancers skipper Moritz Fuerste of Germany, who has won three Olympic medals, converted two penalty corners and the team’s Australian import Glenn Turner scored a field goal to seal the issue. A field goal gets two points.
{{/usCountry}}Fuerste and Turner also finished as the league’s joint highest scorers with 12 goals each in as many matches.
After the first quarter was goalless, Turner opened the account in the 18th minute, deflecting a shot from the right of the striking circle. Fuerste converted a drag flick in the 29th minute to extend the score to 3-0.
Dabang Mumbai pulled one back through Affan Yousuf’s penalty corner conversion in the 33rd minute (1-3). They raised hopes of making a comeback in the dying minutes of the match when the umpire awarded a field goal and the scoreboard displayed 3-3. But celebrations were short-lived as the goal was disallowed after Kalinga sought a video referral.
Kalinga skipper Fuerste then converted another penalty corner in the last minute to seal the match.
Mumbai Dabang’s Harmanpreet Singh, who was part of the Junior World Cup winning squad and was among the nominees for the FIH Rising Star of the Year category, bagged the award for emerging player of the league, which carries a cash award of Rs 20 lakh. Harmanpreet scored seven goals.