The emergence of multiple penalty corner specialists in the national team shows India The edge over the other sides, according to former hockey captain Sandeep Singh, who knows the “hard art” of drag-flicking like the back of his hands.
The Indian squad for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games has three specialist drag-flickers in the form of Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar and Amit Rohidas.
And looking forward to junior players like Sanjay, Arijit Singh Hundal and Sudeep Chirmako, India are in a good position as far as the penalty corner department is concerned.
Drag-flick is a difficult art that takes years of practice to master. “It’s a very technical thing, where you need fast hands and fast bodyweight transfer,” Sandeep said.
Having options in drag-flicks benefits any team and we are fortunate to have a number of penalty corner specialists in the team now. It adds variety. Harmanpreet is a world-class flicker, said Sandeep, who is nicknamed Flickr Singh for his exploits with goal-scoring technique during his playing days.
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In his heyday, drag-flicker Sandeep said the current national team under Manpreet Singh has the means to win a gold medal at the Birmingham Games, starting next month.
Since the introduction of hockey at the Commonwealth Games in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur edition, Australia has won all six gold medals. India’s best results are two silver medals in the 2010 edition and the 2014 Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
Indian hockey has made tremendous progress. Bronze medal in Tokyo was just the sport needed to revive its past glory, Sandeep told PTI in an exclusive conversation with Indian Play Fan Award 2022, where newly elected Rajya Sabha member and veteran sports promoter Kartikeya Sharma was honored with recognition.
If you ask me, I am sure that we can win a gold medal in this Commonwealth Games.
There is hardly any difference between the top 5 teams of the world in today’s hockey. If we play to our potential and plan, we can prevent Australia’s dominance at the Commonwealth Games this time around, the sportsperson-turned-politician who was part of the 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medal winning team.
Sandeep said head coach Graham Reid has instilled confidence and self-confidence in Indian players after four decades of a bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics and then a steady upward move in world hockey.
He said that now the foundation of sports in the country is strong.
A medal in Tokyo is exactly what Indian hockey needed. Now look at our bench strength, we have a core team, an A team and a junior team. Haryana Sports Minister Sandeep said that therefore there is no dearth of quality players.
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