New Delhi, 13 January 2013: Delhi Waveriders and Jaypee Punjab Warriors are ready for their opening match of the inaugural season of Hero Hockey India League to be played at Major DhyanChand National Stadium, New Delhi on Monday.
Delhi Waveriders coach AK Bansal focused on Jaypee Punjab Warriors’ star player Jamie Dwyer and has made strategies around the Australian. “We will try to restrict Jamie at all sides of the ground as he is the key play-maker and very quick on field,” Bansal said in the pre-match press conference.
On the other side, Jaypee Punjab Warriors captain’s key tactic for tomorrow’s match is to stop Sardar Singh. “We will stop Sardar. Delhi Waveriders have strong midfielders and Sardar Singh is the best among them,” Jamie said in the press conference.
Skipper Sardar Singh is a big asset for the Delhi team, and the team management would have high hopes from their skipper throughout the campaign. Mumbai’s Yuvraj Walmiki has proven his talent at various levels in the past 18 months, and he would be another player that Jaypee Punjab Warriors would need to watch out for.
The presence of top class foreign players like Nicolas Jacobi, Pirmin Blaak, Lloyd Norris-Jones makes the team even stronger.

Bansal said goalkeeping is one of the strengths of Delhi Waveriders. “Goalkeeping is our strength. In German Nicolas Jacobi and Dutch Pirmin Blaak we have two best goalkeepers in the world,” he said.
On the other side, Jaypee Punjab Warriors is an equally talented team, with a good mixture of Indian and foreign players. Their Australian Skipper Jamie Dwyer is a high quality performer, and so are the other foreign stars like Jaap Stockmann, Mark Knowles, Simon Orchard and Kieran Govers.
Then they have the experienced Indian players like Ignace Tirkey, and Bharat Chetri. The goal-scoring abilities of the likes of SV Sunil, Shivendra Singh and Sukhdev Singh only make Jaypee Punjab Warriors an even more dangerous side. Also, this side is boosted by young talented players such as Gaganpreet Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh and Gurmail Singh.
Barry Dancer, Team Head Coach said, “We have enjoyed one good week of preparation and were very warmly welcomed and supported in Jalandhar, our home base. The team is very strong and well balanced with a good mix of International and Indian players. We are confident to put a tough fight tomorrow.”
Skipper Jamie Dwyer said, “This is a group of brilliant players, and we have used the available time to bond well together on and off the field. Given the different cultures in the group, we have tried to spend time together to know each other. On the field we have tried to keep the combinations right, so that we prepare as best as we can for the first game against Delhi Waveriders.”