Indoor Hockey World Cup stars lead provinces to IPT glory

Several Indoor Hockey World Cup stars were able to guide their provincial teams to glory in the Indoor Hockey IPT 2025, which concluded in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The Indoor Hockey IPT 2025 reached its conclusion with new champions in the both the men and women’s A-section.

Dalpiarro Langford, who was part of the SA men’s team that won a historic bronze in Croatia recently, led his Southern Gauteng team to victory over Western Province in the final of the men’s draw at Beaulieu College. Southern Gauteng broke Province’s five-year stranglehold with the 6-2 victory in the interprovincial tournament. It included a lightning flick into the roof of the net by the triumphant skipper.

Langford showed all his experience with an imperious all-round display, playing mostly through the centre, that earned him the player-of-the-tournament award.

He often controlled his team’s tempo. A familiar face in the colours of Western Province was World Cup teammate Hans Neethling.

“It was more of mental game today,” Langford said in his post-match interview. “The last three seasons we played Western Province in the final and the last two we didn’t come out on top. But Western Province has a strong culture and we kind of took that from them and built a strong culture. I think our culture showed in that game, which got us the upper hand.”

Another World Cup star, Liam Hermanus of Namibia, provided the firepower up front for Southern Gauteng in finishing as the tournament’s top goalscorer.

“Hopefully we can get more competitive games with overseas teams like the European teams. We did end third now in the last World Cup so I do believe that we’re a force to be reckoned with now and I think the other teams can come over so we can give them a whipping this side,” Langford added, with a chuckle.

A Western Province team boasting the talents of World Cup stars Jamie Southgate, Kayla de Waal and Malihkah Hamza secured victory in an incredibly tight Women’s A section decider.

Top scorer De Waal’s 15th-minute strike was enough to earn Province a first Indoor IPT title in the section. Province showed great defensive resilience to shut out a strong Southern Gauteng attack.

“I’ve been playing for Western Province in IPT for a couple of years and haven’t won gold. We always needed that next step, that next little bit of energy just to push us over the line,” national team and Province skipper Southgate said.

“Scoring one goal in the second chukka and defending that for the entire game was quite intense. But we really banded together as a unit and we all understood our roles and what the objective was and we just stuck to it. That’s what secured us the win at the end of the day.”