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The caravan of Hockey India League (HIL) continued on Monday (January 13) with Tamil Nadu Dragons locking horns against Delhi SG Pipers. The Dragons continued their merry run in the tournament registering their fourth consecutive win beating the opposition 3-2 in a thrilling encounter. With this win, they have cleared their lead up at the top of the table to five points. The Dragons have played six matches so far with four outright wins and have 15 points to show for their efforts.
Meanwhile, Delhi SG Pipers are still the only team to not register an outright win this season in six outings. Expectedly, they are languishing at the bottom of the table with only four points to their name. Hyderabad Toofans are sitting in second position with 10 points while UP Rudras and Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers are next with nine points each.
Soorma Hockey Club, Kalinga Lancers, and Team Gonasika have all registered one outright win so far and are placed fifth, sixth, and seventh in the points table respectively. Gonasika and Soorma Hockey Club are set to face today at 8:15 PM IST at the Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium and a win for either of the teams will help them climb in the table.
Extremely strong Dragons keep Pipers winless
As far as the match is concerned, Delhi SG Pipers threatened for a while thanks to Tomas Domene who scored a brace and also inspired a comeback with purposeful solo sprints. But the Tamil Nadu Dragons were too hot to handle for the Pipers in the evening.
Jip Janssen scored his fifth goal of the tournament to become the highest goalscorer of the Hockey India League this season so far. After going 3-2 down in the clash, Pipers earned a series of penalty corners in the final quarter but couldn’t score an equalizer and remained winless in the tournament. They have now lost three matches outright and a couple more on shootout while their only win also came in a shootout.