Hyderabad Toofans ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ Ahead of HIL Campaign

One of the three teams from the southern belt of the country, Hyderabad Toofans is plugging in the hard yards for the big occasion. The Toofans wear more than just a formidable look with the foreign firepower in the form of Gonzallo Peillat, Zach Wallace, Arthur De Sloover, Jacob Anderson, Maico Casella, Dominic Dixon, Nic Woods, and Tim Brand as well as a bevy of experienced and exciting desi flavour in Devinder Walmiki, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit, Rajinder Singh, Talwinder Singh, Shilanand Lakra among others.

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The Hyderabadi outfit is diligently according finishing touches to their HIL preparations under Dutch coach Pasha Gademan and Scientific Advisor Robin Arkell. “We had perhaps the most unique camp where we had two training blocks at Hyderabad – one from December 10-16 and the other from December 21-25,” says Hyderabad Toofans’ Team Director Siddharth Pandey in an exclusive interview with Hockey Passion.

Pandey shares his perspectives on how efforts were undertaken aimed at making the Indian players on par with foreign players, in terms of tactical understanding and physical capability. “Our training sessions were designed by our chief coach, Pasha Gademan, and scientific advisor Robin Arkell. The first training block was a very intense affair where we wanted 16 of our Indian players to be at a very good level, in terms of of tactical understanding and physical capability. It was about getting them introduced to the principles that Pasha wants us to understand, and wants us to play. The second training block was about reinforcing principles that are important for us, reinforcing shapes and structures we would like to play with, and more importantly, foreign players acclimatizing and get to gel with the Indian players,” he says.

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Undoubtedly, Hyderabad Toofans have one of the most potent midfielders in the form of Maico Casella, Nic Woods, Nilakanta Sharma, Zachary Wallace, Sumit, and Rajinder Singh. “If you look closely, we have invested around sixty percent of our budget on our midfielders. Zach Wallace is enjoying the form of his life – he is one of the most exciting midfielders in world hockey and is the FIH World Player of the Year nominee – Nic Woods is vastly experienced while Maico Casella has been very consistent for Argentina.”

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The team have moved on from the withdrawal of three key players Jean-Paul Dannerburg, Matthew Dawson, and Terrance Pieters. “We have lost a world-class goalkeeper in Jean-Paul Danaberg, but his replacement Dominic Dixon is playing the best hockey of his life. He was absolutely outstanding at the Paris Olympics, and he’s been absolutely brilliant in the Bundesliga where he plays club hockey for Hamburg. Matthew Dawson has retired and we got in Nic Woods, who brings so much to our team. He is not just a solid individual, but also one of the leaders in our team. We are disappointed to lose a great player like Terrence Peiters and now we have Jacob Anderson. He is super fit and would hold the forwardline line together,” he quips.

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The Hyderabad outfit has as many as six drag-flickers – Gonzallo Peillat, Maico Casella, Nic Woods, Rajinder Singh, Amandeep Lakra, and Devinder Walmiki. The Toofans are upbeat about putting up a robust performance in the Hockey India League. “We are cautiously optimistic about our chances. “We are cautiously optimistic about our chances. If you look at some very important areas that affect a hockey match, I think we are very well covered because we were really smart at the auction. We are really looking at being a team that outruns and outclasses teams on the pitch because of the age profile of our team. We are confident but not overconfident,” Hyderabad Toofans Team Director signs off with a note of optimism.