Mazzilli’s late goal gives Wizards bronze medal
Agustin Mazzilli’s late strike helped Uttar Pradesh Wizards beat Delhi Waveriders 5-4 in the bronze medal match of the Coal India Hockey India League (HIL) at the Chandigarh Hockey Stadium here on Sunday.
The Argentine forward struck with a point-blank deflection goal as UP Wizards took the 5-4 lead after Rupinder Pal Singh’s twin penalty corner goals put Delhi ahead.
Delhi, who on Saturday lost to Kalinga Lancers in the semi-final, wasted another opportunity after they were put on the lead by Mandeep Singh, who deflected in a pass Justin Reid-Ross.
The second quarter saw more attacking hockey from Delhi as a result they got their first penalty corner in the initial minutes but failed to take the lead.
Soon UP Wizards started counter-attacking and in the process they scored an equaliser through Shamsher Singh, who guided a straight long ball at the goalpost from Chinglensana Singh.
Delhi recovered from the equaliser and went up 4-2 with two minutes into the third quarter via Rupinder’s two penalty corner conversions. While one went to the bottom left corner,
THE FORWARD STRUCK WITH A POINTBLANK DEFLECTION GOAL AS UP WIZARDS TOOK A 54 LEAD OVER WAVERIDERS
the other one went to the right as he made amends for his earlier mistakes.
Delhi kept their tactics clear in the third quarter too as they won a penalty corner for the foot foul in the initials minutes.
Just when things seemed worse for the UP Wizards, Argentine drag-flicker Peillat slammed powerfully into the net to reduce the deficit to one goal.
Despite holding the ball possession for most of the third and fourth quarters, Delhi failed to capitalise.
Last few minutes saw some ambitious attempts by UP Wizards and they took the 5-4 lead in the 57th minute when Florent van Aubel prevented the ball from going out of the right baseline before giving a tap in opportunity for Mazzilli.