Lions on the prowl in the Hockey India League

January is usually a month without official hockey competitionand the Hockey Indian League took the opportunity to take all the spotlights in the world of stick and ball. Not only because it is the only place where the ball runs, but because they brought together several of the best players to hold a lightning tournament in Asian lands and, among them, there are several Argentines who are living the experience.

Maico Casella Schuth, Nicolás Keenan, Lucas Toscani, Nicolás Della Torre and Tomás Domene are the Los Leones players who are in India competing in the competition that was not held seven seasons ago.

Maico He is the only Lion that remained as a representative of the light blue and white in the Hyderabad Toofansand this is what he told AM850.com about his experiences in the Indian competition: “It is very nice to have the possibility of continuing to compete with the best foreign players in the world, who It is not easy to do it with so many in a European league and here, with this short tournament, there is the possibility of sharing with everyone in an environment different from that of the national team.somewhat more relaxed; maybe even… I don’t know if playful is the word, but everyone a little more loose, a more recreational activity, enjoying it beyond the competition that is in-depth“.

Soorma Hockey Club It has the Argentines trained at the Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Keenan and Della Torre.

The latter, one of the Lions with the longest history of the team, referred to the days in the Asian country and the expertise surrounding the contest: “The league is very professional, I have played in others in my career, but with the resources they have, and the way they use them, it is unbeatable. Doctors, kinesiologists, masseuses, video, press officer. They have a media team to teach you how to declare, what things to upload to social networks. Really everything is very pro”, stated Della Torre.

And he added, “the hotel is very, very good. It makes everything more bearable and makes life in India feel a little closer to home.. The truth is that I am really enjoying the experience. and learning a lot of things from here, about their culture, about how they live hockey”.

To date, The two Nicolás del Soorma are the players who have the most cards in the competition (two yellow and three green, respectively).

The next team that has two albicelestes among its ranks is Delhi SG Pipers: Lucas Toscani and Tomás Domene They are in your template, The latter leads the list of the championship’s scorers with three goalsa record he shares with Jugraj Singh (Bengal Tigers), Alexander Hendrickx (Kalinga Lancers), Harmanpreet Singh (Soorma Hockey Club) and Thierry Brinkman (Kalinga Lancers).

Casella Schuthone of the captains of Los Leones, has among his teammates Gonzalo Peillat, Olympic champion with Argentina at the Rio 2016 Games, and He told about the expectation that there was on the fans and what finally happened: “We were a little surprised because there aren’t as many people as we expected. The stadium is gigantic, we had already come for the World Cup and, at least I and those we had spoken with, we believed that some game was going to be full and until now it has not happened. I think it has to do with the fact that everything is played in the same city and then there are many people who, logically, are not going to come to see all the games and it is difficult to fill it. In previous editions (which were held all over India and each team had home games in their city) the public was more present and felt much more accompanied when you played at home”Maico reflected.

Also, Della Torre, expanded on the coexistence with the other teams and the harmony that was generated in the facility with those who share their days: “We interact with other schools. The reality is that we are eight teams, there are six here in the same hotel and the rest are in another. We play cards, drink coffee or drink mate with those who drink mate. There really is a very good vibe. This also means that there is always someone who wants to do some social activity, We go to the pool and it becomes much more bearable, luckily.“, Nicolás sealed.