The Hindu : Sport : First final today

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Monday, Jan 07, 2008
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First final today

Vijay Lokapally

Exciting action in the offing

— Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

ONE FOR THE ALBUM: Tushar Khandekar (left) of Bangalore Hi-Fliers and Rajpal Singh of Chandigarh Dynamos pose on the eve of the best-of-three finals of the Premier Hockey League.

CHANDIGARH: Bangalore Hi-Fliers and Chandigarh Dynamos promise some exciting action from the Sector 42 Stadium here as the teams gear up for the best of three finals of the Premier Hockey League starting on Monday.

On the eve of the first final, Hi-Fliers and Dynamos assessed each other and concluded, that “the team that plays the best shall win.”

Hi-Fliers coach Ashish Ballal observed, “I am more than satisfied with the performance of the team. Even if we did not play too well, we are in the final. We have taken all steps that will help us make progress and we will rise to the occasion. May the better team win the title.”

Tushar Khandekar fully endorsed Ballal’s views when he said, “You have to attack to win and need to score to win. Whether you score from a field goal or a penalty corner, a goal is a goal at the end of the day. It is good to have a best-of-three finals. Let the deserving team win.”

For Chandigarh Dynamos coach Narinder Singh Sodhi, it was a question of playing to one’s abilities.

“We are in the final and naturally, we will play well. The concern is that we are not scoring field goals. We just did not get the openings for field goals. But then, we are earning many penalty corners and Sandeep Singh is converting them.”

Dynamos skipper Rajpal Singh welcomed the PHL. “Players are earning more exposure in the media and are getting prominence. What matters is that it is hockey that gains as a sport more than the players. We make money too but it is the image of the sport that improves.”

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