Chandigarh: The look on Kalinga Lancers skipper Moritz Fuerste’s face Monday morning said it all. It had a tired look with back-to-back matches Saturday and Sunday and all night partying after the game with Dutchman Billy Bakker choreographing the show, but then it also had the glow of success. Fuerste in his second year of leadership had led the Lancers to their maiden title-win in the HIL.
Fuerste, who also converted two penalty corners in the final against Mumbai, was all praise for his mates and said that it was team effort which helped them win the title.
“We had a very good season this year. From the start of the league I have been insisting that how we play in the final matters the most and I am very happy with the way the team performed against Mumbai,” Furste said. “Last year too, we had a very good run but then in final we couldn’t make it count. This year we were determined to prevent an encore” he added.
Fuerste in spite of emerging joint top scorer with Australian Glenn Turner in the event with 12 goals, however, refused to take credit for his team’s success. “Look at the end it was team effort. Everyone is talking about the goals we score, but then no one is speaking about the saves Andrew Charter made. He has simply been outstanding,” pointed out the German. “Hockey is a team game and even players who never got a chance to play too many games, contributed to the cause by constantly encouraging us.”
With the league perfectly poised to make a transition with at least an additional franchise from Bangalore to make their debut in 2018, Kalinga Lancers coach Mark Hager said that it would be interesting to study the new rules of retaining players.
“With a franchise from Bangalore coming in, retaining three Indian and three foreign players might be reduced to two Indian players. I don’t know. There will be a little bit of a change in the teams but ideally we would like to keep the team we played this year,” stated Hager.
Hager insisted that the league has helped foreign players too as much as it has helped the Indian youngsters. “Back when I played, I never got to interact with other team players so much. But now, with the HIL, players develop a new bond and when they meet at a tournament outside for their national side, they share the same bond,” Hager informed.
Indo-Asian News Service
