The Tribune: Mumbai take on Ranchi in HIL opener

A fiercely-competitive Hockey India League (HIL) is primed to roll out with the clash between Dabang Mumbai and Ranchi Rays at the Mahindra Hockey Stadium on Saturday.

New imports such as Germany’s Christopher Ruhr, Dutch veteran defender Robert van der Horst, Dutch midfielders Robbert Kemperman and Billy Bakker, defender Sander de Wijn, Australian forward Tom Craig, Belgians Florent van Aubel, Emmanuel Stockbroekx and Arthur Van Doren will add to the flavour of the six-team tournament.

Varun Kumar and Arman Qureshi, two of the Junior Hockey World Cup-winning team members, will feature in Punjab Warriors, who will be looking to keep their title. The team looks formidable this year with the likes of veterans Mark Knowles, van der Horst, Sardar Singh, SV Sunil in its ranks. Injured drag-flicker Christopher Ciriello has been replaced by Dutchman Mink van der Weerden, who will make his HIL debut. Punjab will begin their title defence against Mumbai on January 27 in Mumbai.

The teams will play a double round-robin preliminary league played on home and away basis followed by the semifinals and final on February 25 and 26, respectively.