Orissa Steelers
The Orissa Steelers are the winners of the Premier Hockey League 2007, India's only national league level Field Hockey tournament. The originally proposed name for the team was Rourkela Steelers after the city which is said to be the Hockey Capital of Orissa.
They participated in the tournament for the first time in 2006, when it had two tiers. They won the First Division (the other was Premier Division) title that year. In 2007, the two-tier system was replaced by a single-tier system in PHL, and Orissa Steelers was admitted as one of the seven teams. The others were Hyderabad Sultans, Maratha Warriors, Sher-e-Jalandhar, Chandigarh Dynamos, Chennai Veerans, and Bangalore Lions.
Orissa Steelers went on to win 10 of their 12 matches in the league level to top the table. In the best-of-three finals, they won the title and the prize money of Rs 4 million by beating Sher-e-Jalandhar twice while losing to them once. Dilip Tirkey, the captain of the Orissa Steelers, who also leads Indian national Hockey team, was awarded player of the tournament in PHL 2007.
Team in PHL 2007
Players
- Dilip Tirkey (Captain)
- Salman Akbar (Goalkeeper) [Pakistan]
- Daman Deep Singh
- Prabodh Tirkey
- Roshan Minz
- Samir Dad
- Sunil Ekka
- Jitender Saroha
- William Xalxo
- Bimal Lakra
- Jasbir Singh
- Adnan Zakir [Pakistan]
- Mario Almada [Argentina]
- Tjeerd Steller [Netherlands]
- Sunil Yadav
- Bruno H Lugun
- Birender Lakra
- Prem Kumar
- Dinesh Ekka (Goalkeeper)
Officials
- A K Bansal (Chief Coach)
- Pranab K Pattnaik (Asst. Coach)
- Mukti Prasad Das (PT)
- Pratap Satpathy (Manager)
Performance in 2007
League Level Matches: 12; Won: 10; Lost: 2; Goals For: 29; Goals Against: 12; Points: 28; Position in League Table: No 1
Results At A Glance in 2007
League Level
- Won Against Chandigarh Dynamos 1-0 (Extra Time)
- Won Against Chennai Veerans 2-1
- Won Against Hyderabad Sultans 1-0
- Lost to Sher-e-Jalandhar 1-2
- Won Against Bangalore Lions 3-0
- Won Against Maratha Warriors 2-0
- Won Against Hyderabad Sultans 2-0
- Lost to Bangalore Lions 3-4
- Won Against Chandigarh Dynamos 4-2
- Won Against Sher-e-Jalandhar 4-2 (Extra Time; Shootout)
- Won Against Maratha Warriors 4-1
- Won Against Chennai Veerans 5-1
Finals
- Lost to Sher-e-Jalandhar in the penalty shootout
- Won Against Sher-e-Jalandhar 2-1
- Won Against Sher-e-Jalandhar 4-3