How Clinical Tamil Nadu Dragons Have Stolen a March Over the Rest in the HIL

Tamil Nadu Dragons have steadily grown in stature in the 6th Men’s Hockey India League after braving out staunch resistance from the likes of Soorma Hockey Club and Kalinga Lancers in their initial games. The Rein Van Ejik-coached Chennai franchise are on a winning trot, having beaten the likes of UP Rudras, Team Gonasika, Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers, and Delhi SG Pipers to leapfrog to the points table with 15 points from 6 games.

Read Rein Van Eijk-Coached Tamil Nadu Dragons Excited About Delivering Big Impact in HIL

The impressive run of the Charles Group-owned franchise makes them a strong contender to make it to the semifinal. Understandably, Tamil Nadu Dragons’ chief coach Rein Van Ejik is pretty chuffed with the way things have panned out for his team. “We are playing as a team and full credit to the boys. The presence of some world-class players – one being our goalkeeper David Harte, has made a difference. But we have been lucky on a few occasions. More importantly, we’ve been able to effectively control the game for 60 minutes. It is about seizing the moments when the game opens up and we’ve been able to capitalize on,” says the Tamil Nadu Dragons chief coach in an exclusive chat with Hockey Passion.

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The Dutchman, who has spent a lengthy period of time in the German hockey set up, having guided Germany to the 2023 Junior Men’s World Cup glory at Kuala Lumpur, is all praise for skipper and Indian deep defender Amit Rohidas. “Amit has been amazing for us and when it comes to PC first-rusher, I have not seen anyone better than him. The amount of balls he gets on his stick during a PC routine just makes life so much easier for the rest of the PC defense. You could see a lot of teams opting for variations when they play us because Amit has been simply superb,” he quips.

Read How Kalinga Lancers Showed Why it is a Force to Reckon With

The Dragons may be the tabletoppers but Rein insists they are not the red-hot favourites for the HIL crown. “We are just one of the contestants and there is a lot of room for improvement. We can play a lot better, especially with the ball – we are creating too many opportunities ourselves to lose games and we need to keep working on our game – as I said earlier we had been lucky to be in the position we are today,” quips the former German assistant coach.

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He is candid enough to elaborate on the teams that can go the distance in the HIL. “The Lancers have looked very impressive in the last two games. They obviously enjoy a big advantage playing with goalkeeper Krishan Pathak as it allows them to play with one extra overseas player. Hyderabad Toofans are playing good hockey but have been very unlucky on multiple occasions. The points table does not reflect how they have performed. Soorma and Rudras are very formidable sides as well,” he says.

Surely, the Amit Rohidas-captained Tamil Nadu Dragons have emerged as one of the teams to beat in the 6th Men’s Hockey India League