HIL: Harmanpreet Singh-led Soorma Hockey Club win via shoutout; Bengal Tigers beat Hyderabad Toofans

Rourkela: Harmanpreet Singh’s Soorma Hockey Club began their Hockey India League sojourn on a winning note as they earned a 4-1 shoot-out victory against Tamil Nadu Dragons after the match finished 1-1 at the end of 60 minutes here on Sunday.
Tamil Nadu Dragons goalkeeper David Harte, who made some great saves in regular time, sadly couldn’t block any of the shots during shoot-outs. His counterpart Vincent Vanasch, meanwhile, denied Tom Craig and Thomas Sorsby and it was enough to help Soorma win the bonus point at the sparsely filled Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium.
Earlier, the match remained goalless till the end of the third quarter. It was only in the final quarter that the deadlock was broken when Tamil Nadu scored from a PC in the 49th minute.
It was their fourth PC and Jip Jansen slammed it along the ground. Soorma goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch did well to get down and stop the shot but failed to put it away. Sensing the danger, Jeremy Hayward did his best to clear it but Nathan Ephraums ran towards the goal and with the faintest of touches put the ball into the net.
Their celebrations though were short-lived as Gurjant equalised for Soorma with six minutes left in the match. It was their fourth PC and Hayward’s shot was well blocked by Harte. However, Gurjant scored off the rebound and took the game into the shootouts.
Earlier in the day, Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers grabbed a 3-2 win against Hyderabad Toofans.
Jugraj Singh opened the scoring for the Bengal Tigers in the ninth minute from their first penalty corner of the match. Sukhjeet Singh then doubled the lead five minutes into the second quarter following a move down the right. This time Abhishek, after a small run down the baseline, played the ball toward the centre and Sukhjeet smashed the ball through the legs of the goalkeeper.
Despite the 2-0 lead, the Bengal Tigers kept up the pressure and scored their third in the 36th minute and this time it was Affan Yousuf, who last played for the Indian national team in 2017. Yousuf ran down the middle and made a slight change of direction towards the very end before firing the ball into the net.
Toofans though were in no mood to go down without a fight. They did win numerous PCs and a stroke early in the match but they failed to take advantage of them. However, in the 41st minute, they reduced the lead when Timothy Daniel sounded the board with a deflected shot from close range. Arthur de Sloover also converted a PC in the 59th minute to make it 2-3.
However, despite their best effort, they failed to find the equaliser.