A ray of light for Indian hockey

One of the key reasons for India’s decline as a hockey power has been the lack of a proven penalty –corner expert. Almost all the nations that have done well have had a dead-eye shooter in their ranks. Taeke Taekema, Taco Van Der Honert and Floris Jan Bovelander for Holland, Santi Freixa for Spain, Jorge Lombi for Argentina and Calum Giles for England have been some of the very best. Even fellow proponents of the Asian style like Pakistan and Australia have benefitted from the presence of Sohail Abbas and Troy Elder respectively. Others like Germany and South Korea, who don’t have a top-notch expert, have perfected the art of indirect conversions. The likes of New Zealand have also ridden the thunderous strikes of Hayden Shaw to upstage India. And to add our woes, we also have a poor record at defending penalty corners.

Most of the time we have had burly defenders like Jagdev Singh giving the ball an all-mighty thwack. But converting penalty corners is not just about power. It’s also about precision and control. Jugraj Singh was the first Indian who seemed to have that as well. Sadly, he had a horrific accident and that was the end of his international career.

Later guys like Len Aiyappa, Dilip Tirkey and Sandeep Singh have tried to don the mantle of India’s penalty corner ace. Sadly, none of them have really managed to ace the task at hand.

It is also important to note the major rule change that has affected the way penalty corners have been attempted in the last decade. Players can now hit a rising shot and there is no restriction on the height attained by the ball in its flight towards goal. This has led to the innovative new style of hitting a corner called the ‘Drag-flick’. This has further increased the value of the penalty corner, provided, you have a good drag-flicker. For those who don’t, like India, the new style has created a bigger disadvantage.

For a once proud hockey nation which has touched its nadir by failing to qualify for the Olympics, this is too much of an Achilles heel. Thankfully, help is on the way in the form of junior team captain Diwakar Ram. He was the star of the show in the Asia Cup held earlier this year, where he ended as top –scorer with nine goals. And now he has added to his growing reputation by leading the junior team to a series win over world champions Argentina and that too away in Buenos Aires. The difference between the two sides was India’s victory in the first game where Diwakar got a hat trick.

We have unearthed a rare gem and now the onus is on the Indian hockey authorities to groom and nurture him. He has the correct basic drag-flick technique and regular training stints with the renowned penalty-corner coach Toon Siepman would do him a world of good. Opposition coaches are continuously studying your hitting technique and Diwakar will need all the guidance to hone his craft and be more deceptive. He will also need to add strength and stamina and that will require physical conditioning, nutrition regulation and strength and fitness training.

Fast bowling was a sore issue in Indian cricket before Kapil Dev arrived. Diwakar Ram could do the same for penalty corners in Indian hockey.