Hockey India League: Rupinder Pal Singh’s missed stroke proves costly as TN Dragons beat Bengal Tigers to climb top | Hockey News

On paper, Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers got the same number of points from their last matches: none. After starting the Hockey India League with three wins out of three, they have now suffered back-to-back defeats. But the nature of those losses couldn’t have been more contrasting. On Friday in Rourkela, the Tigers went down 1-2 in a closely fought contest against a gritty Tamil Nadu Dragons, now the new leaders of the tournament. They huffed, they puffed, but couldn’t break the Dragons’ defence down.As captain Rupinder Pal Singh reflected on the loss, he made it a point to ins this was a performance much better than their 0-6 defeat against Kalinga Lancers, one where they just didn’t turn up at the start and lost to an early blitzkrieg. Rupinder also conceded that the turning point of the night came off his own stick: he uncharacterically missed a penalty stroke – his second of the match – that would have brought his side level late in the third quarter. For Dragons, Karthi Selvam (16’) and Uttam Singh (37’) were on the scoresheet while Rupinder’s other penalty stroke was Tigers’ only goal of the night
The full-time stats said a story: Tigers dominated circle entries (25 to 16), shots on goal (14 to 8), penalty corners won (10 to 2)… but the number that mattered was in favour of Dragons, led captain Amit Rohidas’ set-piece rushing and veteran goalkeeper David Harte’s flurry of saves.

Uttam Singh”s winning goal for @tndragonshockey is our Hero Moment of the Match!
Watch the LIVE coverage on DD Sports, Waves, Sony TEN 1, Sony TEN 3, Sony TEN 4 and Sony LIV!#HeroHIL #HockeyKaJashn #HockeyIndiaLeague | @ddsportschannel | @WAVES_OTT | @HeroMotoCorp |… pic.twitter.com/P1yfxbKcjs
— Hockey India League (@HockeyIndiaLeag) January 10, 2025
The contest between the tournament’s top two sides lived up to the billing from the word go in terms of the intensity on display but it was a largely scrappy first quarter, that had a lot of needle and was quite physical.
Poacher’s finish
Early in Q2 though, Dragons made the breakthrough, thanks to TN’s own. A long aerial into the circle was controlled expertly Uttam Singh down the left line. He dribbled along the line but delayed his pass just enough to find Karthi in space in front of goal. And the Tamil Nadu striker fired his side into the lead with a poacher’s finish. After a slow start to the tournament, he has now found the back of the net twice in two matches.
It was a finish that was reminiscent of SV Sunil’s in Gonasika’s match the previous night. Commenting in the studio during half-time, hockey pundit Siddharth Pandey – who is the director of Hyderabad Toofans – observed how Sunil cleverly made space for himself shifting his position a yard and noted that it was a lesson for young forwards watching. Karthi seemed to have done just that.
Tigers upped the ante thereafter and created a flurry of chances before half time but Harte and his defence stood tall. At the break, coach Colin Batch said: “The way we finished the half is how I want us to play the next two quarters, the intensity was good, and we need to keep that up.”

Rupinder Pal Singh converts from a penalty stroke for the all-important equaliser!
Watch the LIVE coverage on DD Sports, Waves, Sony TEN 1, Sony TEN 3, Sony TEN 4 and Sony LIV!#HeroHIL #HockeyKaJashn #HockeyIndiaLeague | @srbt24 | @SonySportsNetwk | @SonyLIV | @HeroMotoCorp |… pic.twitter.com/5J0vVgjSKf
— Hockey India League (@HockeyIndiaLeag) January 10, 2025
Just so, Tigers hit back within five minutes of the second half. A foot on the goal-line from a Penalty Corner led to a stroke and Rupinder made no make. The pressure was now immense on Dragons.
But moments later, Dragons found another opening against the run of play. Moritz Ludwig in lots of space down the right, and his driving run into the circle caused chaos in the Tigers’ defence and his cutback was swept into the net Uttam. The creator of the first goal, turned scorer this time as Dragons swiftly reestablished their lead.
Then came some drama. Dragons coach Rein van Eijk was not happy, wagging his fingers in the air after a penalty stroke was awarded the officials to Tigers. But that soon turned into celebration as Rupinder fired it wide this time with Harte guessing correctly.

Karthi Selvam gives @tndragonshockey the lead with a cheeky little finish!
Watch the LIVE coverage on DD Sports, Waves, Sony TEN 1, Sony TEN 3, Sony TEN 4 and Sony LIV!#HeroHIL #HockeyKaJashn #HockeyIndiaLeague #SRBTvsTMLD | @ddsportschannel | @WAVES_OTT | @HeroMotoCorp |… pic.twitter.com/sHuNdKKbkL
— Hockey India League (@HockeyIndiaLeag) January 10, 2025
Harte then turned into prime Manuel Neuer as he charged out and put in a superb stick tackle when the ever-lively Sukhjeet Singh was shaping to take a shot at goal.

Dragons endured a nervy ending after Ludwig got a yellow card to spend 5 of the last 6 minutes on the sidelines. With 2 minutes to go, there was another yellow card for Dragons (Chandan Yadav) and for a few seconds, they were down to 9 men on the pitch. It was a proper park-the-bus performance at this point but they held on.

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