Kalinga Lancers News

Kalinga Lancers overpowered the table toppers Dabang Mumbai to beat the home team 4-3 in a nail-biting encounter here at the Mahindra Hockey Stadium. This was Dabang Mumbai’s first loss in the fifth edition of the Coal India Hockey India League.

Australian Glenn Turner struck twice for hosts Kalinga Lancers to hand his side a splendid 4-2 victory that enthralled the home crowd who turned up in great numbers at the Kalinga Stadium for the fifth edition of Coal India Hockey India League, here on Monday.

After two heartbreaks against Delhi and Ranchi in the last two finals of the Hockey India League (HIL), Mark Hager guided his team to their first trophy in his first season in charge. Youngster Armaan Qureshi put up a wonderful performance in the big game, as Punjab handed Ranchi a 6-1 defeat.

Defending Champions Ranchi Rays came back from behind to beat Kalinga Lancers 3-2 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar today. Captain Ashley Jackson and Mohd Amir Khan scored the goals for Ranchi to propel them to the top of the table with 27 points in the 4th Coal India Hockey India League.

Dabang Mumbai were down 4-0 at the end of the second quarter and were staring down at another defeat. However, the home side showed a lot of grit and determination to fight back and level the score, before conceding the lead once again to Kalinga Lancers. Mumbai have now lost all of their four matches so far, as Kalinga move up to second in the points table.

Kalinga and Rachi were two of the four teams who were tied at 11 points at the top of the table when this game began, and both came into this game on a run of two consecutive wins. The match lived up to the billing as both the teams produced a thriller in Ranchi. The home side showed tremendous grit and character to comeback, after conceding the lead, and win the game 3-2 in the final quarter.

It seems Uttar Pradesh have used up all their good fortune in their opening game of the campaign, when they scored two goals in the dying moments to snatch a win from the jaws of defeat against Kalinga Lancers. Since then, they have ended up on the losing side in all their three games, as today Kalinga avenged their 6-8 heartbreak in the opening game, by thrashing UP 10-2 in Lucknow.

Kalinga Lancers and Dabang Mumbai were the bottom two teams in last year's Hockey India League points table, but they produced an entertaining game at Bhubaneswar on Thursday. The home side showed a lot of character to win the game 4-2, after conceding the lead in the third quarter.