HIL 2025-26: Soorma Hockey Club claims first points in shootout win over Hyderabad Toofans

Wasteful conversions from both sides stretched the contest into a shootout where Soorma Hockey Club pipped Hyderabad Toofans 3-1 to get its first points in the Hockey India League at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai on Friday.

But after a lack of finishing plagued them in a 1-1 draw in regulation time, errors crept into the shootout too. Toofans’ Zachary Wallace, Arshdeep Singh and Rajinder Singh were denied by Vincent Vanasch. For Soorma, Victor Wegnez and Gurjant Singh were off their mark with their efforts.

Nicolas Della Torre’s final attempt to seal the game struck the post too but a timely referral got Soorma a penalty stroke. Harmanpreet Singh, who had scored the first, slotted the stroke into the left past Bikramjit Singh to seal the two points.

But both teams had ample chances to settle the affair by the final hooter.

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Toofans were nearly off to a flying start with Wallace and Jacob Anderson moving through the right and making their way into the circle. Anderson’s pass across, though, was cleared by Della Torre. 

In the third minute, Soorma had their first chance. Vivek Sagar Prasad picked Gurjant on the left in the circle. The forward did a roundabout turn to fox his marker and fire at goal. Bikramjit impeded with the rebound which got Soorma a short corner but Harmanpreet’s dragflick from the first battery was denied by the rusher.

Soorma were more patient in building play up, holding the ball in midfield with Vivek and Wegnez for extended spells.

They were almost rewarded for it in the sixth minute. Pawan Rajbhar had a sight at goal from the centre of the circle but was denied by Bikramjit. The rebound went to Maninder Singh on the left but even his tomahawk could not breach the goal.

Toofans’ first penalty corner went in vain after Wallace mistrapped the ball from the injection. They were still able to improvise an attack but Amandeep Lakra’s eventual flick was tamed, too.

Prabhjot Singh of Soorma set the tone in the second quarter when he won the ball from Nilakanta Sharma and launched a counter in the 17th minute. But the chance went begging as he could not connect in the circle to a pass from Vivek. This attack still worked in getting Soorma a slew of corners.

Soorma mixed things up by setting della Torre for these set pieces but failed to open their account. The breakthrough came in the 20th minute after Rajbhar’s stickwork in the circle got Soorma another corner. Harmanpreet delivered this time, going low and into the left corner.

Soorma nearly doubled its lead in the same minute as Jeetpal and Akashdeep Singh combined to win the ball back merely seconds after pushback. Jeetpal got the final shot, which crept inches wide of the far post.

Toofans had a look in moments later via Tim Brand, whose reverse-hit was denied by Vanasch.

Four minutes after the restart, Toofans were awarded a penalty corner for a rather unusual lapse from Soorma. The side had six overseas players on the pitch at once, more than the permissible limit of five. Lakra, however, failed to convert yet again, sending his shot wide of the top-left corner.

Soorma let go of another chance to strengthen its hold on the match. Maninder won a penalty corner in the 38th minute but instead of Harmanpreet, Soorma went with a variation in Jeremy Hayward and missed. 

Lakra made Soorma pay for this in the fourth quarter, squeezing his dragflick into the sidenetting on the right in the 46th minute The final chance landed with Brand in the 57th minute but he could not steer a cross from the right enough to challenge the keeper.

Soorma won a penalty corner in the final minute but a review from Arthur De Sloover got the decision reversed and forced the shootout.

Published on Jan 09, 2026