HIL auction: Belgium’s Wegnez costliest buy on Day 2

With all top Indian stars sold out on Day 1 of the Hockey India League (HIL) players’ auction, it was the turn of the overseas big names to go under the hammer here on Monday.
Expectedly, nine of the top 10 buys on Day 2 of the auction were foreign players with Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Victor Wegnez of Belgium being the costliest buy, going for ₹40 lakh to JSW Sports-owned Soorma Hockey Club.
Paris Olympics gold medal winning captain Thierry Brinkman from the Netherlands was the second costliest buy, getting sold for ₹38 lakh to Kalinga Lancers while Argentine forward Tomas Domene went to Delhi SG Pipers for ₹36 lakh.
Kalinga Lancers struck gold with Arthur van Doren, winning the Belgian legend for ₹32 lakh with rising midfielder M Rabichandra Singh being the most expensive Indian player on Day 2, getting sold to Kalinga Lancers for ₹32 lakh.
The next most expensive buys were Arthur de Sloover of Belgium ( ₹30 lakh to Hyderabad Toofans) and Australian Timothy Daniel ( ₹28 lakh to Hyderabad Toofans). Australia’s Aran Zalewski (Kalinga Lancers) and Blake Govers (Tamil Nadu Dragons) and Dutchman Floritz Wortelboer (UP Rudras) were all sold for ₹27 lakh.
However, the big surprises were Tokyo Olympics silver medallist goalkeeper Andrew Charter of Australia, English drag-flickers Sam Ward and Nick Bandurak, and German 2023 World Cup-winner Mats Grambusch not getting sold.
Some of the Indian players who were bought for more than 10 times their base price were Angad Bir Singh ( ₹26 lakh to Kalinga Lancers) and Rajinder Singh ( ₹23 lakh to Hyderabad Toofans), who had the lowest base price of ₹2 lakh.
Visakhapatnam-based Team Gonasika were the first to complete 20 players followed by Tamil Nadu Dragons and Soorma Hockey Club as the final four players per team were sold in a closed bid.
“Today, we were really trying to focus on the overseas players. I think we’ve done pretty well there. We’ve got some good experience and got some really good players in that line in the overseas side,” said Delhi SG Pipers coach Graham Reid.
“I am happy with the overall structure of the team. You have to move things around and depending on who comes up when and where and everything. So that’s been the difficult part.”
Contrary to the earlier announcement, the first-ever women’s Hockey India League (HIL) will have only four teams instead of six. It has been reliably learnt that Hockey India (HI) failed to find buyers of the last two franchises in time and the ones who came on board wanted to join in from the second season.
The four women’s teams now are Soorma Hockey Club (owned by JSW Sports), Bengal Tigers (Shrachi Sports), Delhi SG Pipers (SG Sports and Entertainment) and Odisha Warriors (Navoyam Sports Ventures Private Limited). Hyderabad Toofans and Mumbai-based BC Jindal Group have confirmed participation from Season 2.
Hence, the women’s auction, scheduled for Tuesday, will only have four teams bidding for the 320 odd players – 250 domestic and 70 overseas – up for auction for the 96 slots available.
Each team will consist of 24 players, including 16 Indians (with a mandatory inclusion of four juniors) and eight overseas players. Franchises will have a purse of ₹2 crore with athletes categorised under three base price slabs — ₹10 lakh, ₹5 lakh and ₹2 lakh.
Highlighting the event will be India’s top women’s players, including seasoned goalkeeper Savita, captain Salima Tete, rising drag-flicker Deepika, the most-capped Indian women’s player Vandana Katariya, and forward Lalremsiami. Additionally, former India stalwarts such as Yogita Bali, Lilima Minz and Namita Toppo have also registered.
On the international front, renowned players such as Delfina Merino (Argentina), Charlotte Stapenhorst (Germany), Maria Granatto (Argentina), Rachael Lynch (Australia) and Nike Lorenz (Germany) are set to go under the hammer.