Bangalore Hi-Fliers

The Bangalore Hi-Fliers were a Premier Hockey League (PHL) team, based in Bangalore, Karnataka. Initially known as the Bangalore Lions, the team was led by Tushar Khandekar. The Hi-Fliers won the PHL twice—in 2006 and in 2008—more than any other team.

Bangalore Hi-Fliers
Bangalore Hi-fliers emblem
Full nameBangalore Hi-Fliers
Founded2005
Dissolved2008
Home groundBangalore Hockey Stadium
(Capacity 1,000)
ManagerKannan Krishnamurthy
LeaguePremier Hockey League
Premier Hockey League Champions
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History

Founding

The club was formed on the back grounds of inaugural Premier Hockey League in year 2005. It started off with many host of hockey superstars from India, Pakistan and Malaysia. Hi-Fliers is the only teams who in every edition of the PHL displayed tactical and strategic hockey. They have had a good mix of young and experienced players. In the first edition at Hyderabad, their squad had as many as seven members from the national team. They played well in the first leg but failed to maintain the same tempo in the second set of matches and finished a disappointing fourth in the first edition.[1]

Change Of Name and Rise

The Bangalore Lions

In the year 2006 ING Life Insurance became the official team sponsor of Bangalore Hi-fliers and the team was re-christened as Bangalore Lions in the second and third edition. Lions went on to win league in 2006[2] and in 2007 they finished third,[3] before going back to the original name in PHL - IV and again winning league.

Lions Era (2006-2007)

The Bangalore Lions team after winning the Premier Hockey League in 2006

Team's name was changed to Lions in 2006, the team played brilliantly throughout and finished as the second team in the league to enter the best-of-three finals and pipped local favourites Chandigarh Dynamos to win the second edition. In the third final, Bangalore's Hariprasad scored a classic goal - that one effort earned him a place in the Indian team for the Asian Games and the World Cup. In the third edition, Bangalore failed to make it to the final by three points and finished third. [2][3]

2008

The Bangalore Hi-fliers team after winning the Premier Hockey League in 2008

Team's name was again changed in 2008 and they were now called Bangalore Hi-fliers. Hi-fliers went on to win the league in 2008. The greatest strength of the team is their star penalty corner specialist Len Aiyappa. The bald-pated drag flick expert collected the Top Scorer award in the first 2005. The team's fortunes depend on the ability of their forwardline to get enough short corners for Len to click. Bangalore had eight internationals in their team and is also served by one of the best goalkeepers in the country, Bharath Kumar Chetri. Its Korean import You Hyo-sik has the ability to make speedy runs and he was an asset to the team. They also had two more foreign players Oliver Rutgers and Sebastian Westerholt from the Netherlands. Skipper Tushar Khandekar was the star to watch in the forward line and he has the seasoned and talented Sandeep Michael and Hariprasad to bolster the attack. Sunil and Cheyanna, two upcoming youngsters are the ones to watch out for in the frontline. Former skipper Arjun Halappa had the ability to play as an attacking midfielder and they had Bimal Lakra, a trusted soldier in the midfield, as the fulcrum of the team's fortunes - who was also ably assisted by VS Vinay. With a mix of good players in all the departments who have the ability to play tactical modern hockey, Bangalore Hi-Fliers looked good for another shot at the title and they did what was expected from them. With their chief coach Ramesh Parameswaran joining the national duties, assistant coach and Olympian Ashish Ballal was in-charge of the coaching staff with another Junior India coach Edward Brient to assist him. Another former international CS Poonacha was the fitness trainer with the secretary of the Karnataka Hockey Association K Krishnamurthy as manager.[4][5][6]

Bangalore Hi-fliers Season By Season Performance

[5][7][8][9]

Season Played Won Draw Lost ET-W ET-L GF GA GD Points position
2005 8 3 0 5 - - 19 22 -3 9 Fourth
2006 8 5 0 3 - - 16 12 4 13 Second in league won Championship on play-offs
2007 12 5 0 4 2 1 24 26 -2 20 Third
2008 6 4 0 1 1 0 13 10 3 14 Second in league won Championship on play-offs

Players

First-Team Squad

As of PHL 4 - 2008.[10]

Name Country
Tushar Khandekar (Captain)
Bharath Kumar Chhetri
Len Aiyappa
P T RAO
Ajay Kumar Saroha[11]
Arjun Halappa
Vinaya V.S
Bimal Lakra
Vikram Kanth
Cheeyanna
Hari Prasad
S. V. Sunil
K.A.Nilesh
Kamarjit Singh
Olivier Rutgers
Sebastian Westerhout
Hyo Kim

Note: The list of players was obtained from the PHL website.

Other Important Team Personnel

  • Ramesh Parameswaran (Chief Coach)
  • Ashish Ballal (Asst. Coach)
  • Kannan Krishnamurthy (General Manager)
  • Poonacha C.S (Trainer)

Former players

[7][8][9][12]

Former players
Name Career Country
Kuttappa 2005
Irshad Ali 2005
Chandrasekhar Xalxo 2005
Pawal Lakra 2005
Amar Aiyamma 2005 and 2007
Sabu Varkey 2005–2007
Sunil Ekka 2005
Ravi Kumar 2006
Ignace Tirkey 2006–2007
Former Players
Name Career Country
Mommahad Waqas 2007
Gurpreet Singh 2007
Paul Blake 2007
Laxman Rao NP 2007
Bikramjit Singh 2007
Suresh Kumar 2006–2007
Bimal Lakra 2006–2008
Prabodh Tirkey 2005–2007
Bipin Fernandes 2006

Goal Keepers

[7][8][9][12]

Dates Name Country
2005–Present Bharath Kumar Chhetri
2005 Kuttappa
2006–Present P T RAO

Club Captains

[7][8][9][12]

Dates Name Country
2005–2007 Arjun Halappa
2008–Present Tushar Khandekar

International Players

[7][8][9][12]

International players
Name Career Country
Kuhan Shanmugunathan 2005
Mudassar Ali Khan 2005–2006
Rehan Butt 2006
Jordi Quintana 2006
Paul Blake 2007
International Players
Name Career Country
Thijs de Greeff 2007
Sander van der Weide 2007
Olivier Rutgers 2008
Sebastian Westerhout 2008
Hyo Kim 2008

Club Officials

Coaching And Medical Staff

[12]

  • Manager: Kannan Krishnamurthy
  • Chief Coach: Ramesh Parameswaran
  • Asst Coach: Ashish Ballal
  • Physical Trainer: Poonacha C.S

Chief Coach History

[7][8][9][12]

Dates Name Country
2005–Present Ramesh Parameswaran

Honours

See also

References

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