Underwater Hockey comes 3rd at Nationals

Imperial’s Underwater Hockey team won their first ever medal at the University Nationals tournament on Saturday 8th March in Plymouth, finishing 3rd out of 17 teams.

A team of 9 players went to Plymouth Life Centre (the home of Tom Daley) over the weekend as part of the biggest students’ underwater hockey tournament in the UK. We were up against 17 teams, ranging from Oxford and Plymouth to places further afield such as Stirling and Bangor. There were 3 Barbarian alumni teams from Plymouth, Portsmouth and Warwick, who were ineligible to win the competition. The Imperial team led by captain Eric Leung & vice-captain, Rajeev Dattani, were hoping for a top 5 finish. We had four young players who had never played in a tournament before (Nathan Patel, Yiyu Wang, Arnab Debnath and Derek So). The relatively inexperienced players are backed up by more experienced Alex Whittington, Dan Barker, David Harris and Rajeev Dattani.

Imperial College fought hard but did not have the best start losing to Portsmouth A (1-2) and Plymouth A (0-5), the eventual winner, in the opening games. However, with every player giving 110%, team Imperial had solid performances in the later games. After some tough games with Warwick A (1-1), Plymouth Barbarians (1-1), Liverpool (4-0) and Oxford (3-1), team Imperial found themselves finishing 5th in their group. A win over Stirling (6-0) in the play-off put Imperial in the quarter final against Plymouth Barbarians. It was a tense match, but the final score was not in Imperial’s favour. The score was at 1-1 and a minute left to play. Imperial had captain, Eric Leung, sent off and were down to 5 players. Plymouth Barbarians scored with 10 seconds left on the clock. Losing the game 2-1, the team were in the play off for 5th/6th place against Oxford. There were two Barbarian teams who were ineligible to win a medal in the semi-final. A win over Oxford (4-0) gave Imperial a 5th place finish; meaning Imperial came 3rd amongst the student teams.

The team walked away with a medal hung round their necks for the first time. It was a fantastic experience for young players in the team, and was the last student nationals for some experienced players (Dan Barker and Rajeev Dattani). The team is looking forward to getting more new players. Anyone interested in trying out please contact Eric Leung (swl12 'at' ic.ac.uk).

Thanks to Sport Imperial for non-BUCS funding as well as to Plymouth University Octopush Club and the British Octopush Association for organising the tournament.

What is Underwater Hockey?

Underwater Hockey is a fast paced sport, played by teams of six at the bottom of a pool with four alternating substitute players. The aim of the game is score more than the other team by moving a lead puck along the bottom of the pool using a ‘pusher’. Snorkels allow the players to keep moving with the game while they take a quick breath between long dives. A team scores by working together to push, flick and pass the puck down the pitch and getting it into the opponent’s goal. This is often achieved best through skill rather than brute strength- proven by the fact this is a mixed sport at adult level.

Want to play?

We train every week at St. Mary’s pool, Paddington, at 8pm on Mondays. This new and rapidly expanding club is always looking for more members. If you want to play email Eric Leung (swl12@ic.ac.uk)