The Hindu: ‘One of the greatest events of my life’

Rupinder Pal Singh is now savouring the moment with his family and friends in Faridkot, Punjab. The 25-year-old, a drag flick specialist, played a key role in India bagging a historic bronze medal in the Hockey World League Final in Raipur recently.

Working in Chennai as a manager with the Indian Overseas Bank for the last five years, Rupinder says the third place finish has motivated the team and has provided it with the much-needed momentum ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics. “It is one of the greatest events of my life. It is my first medal in a FIH (World level) tournament. It was because of team effort,” says the full back, who scored the final goal (two overall) off a penalty in the shootout that ensured the host secure the bronze medal.

Grouped with the Netherlands, Argentina, Germany, India finished last in the group with two losses and a draw against Germany, but recovered to reach the last four.

“We had three bad games (in the group) but we fought back as a team,” says Rupinder.

Losing to The Netherlands in the semifinals, according to Rupinder, was unfortunate, as the team had more chances than its opponent.

“They came to our ‘D’ only 3-4 times. We had more chances but couldn’t convert them,” he says.

Rupinder says one of the reasons the team didn’t do well was that it couldn’t create more penalty corner opportunities, supporting his statement with a statistic that India had only 10 PCs, which is not up to the mark.

“10 PCs in the whole tournament is very less,” he says.

The important lesson from the Hockey World League that Rupinder has learnt is “we can play good hockey.”

“We were 2-0 down (in the bronze medal play-off match) but fought back. We should maintain the same momentum till the Rio Olympics. I admit we were not consistent. I don’t know the reasons. But if every individual gives his 100 per cent from the first minute, then we can do well in Olympics.”

His advice to the Tamil Nadu players is to keep playing the sport unmindful of the results and not rest if they get a job.

“They are not short of talent. The general tendency is if one gets a job, he/she doesn’t practice that much. The players should spend more time training, and should always strive for improvement,” says Rupinder, who was part of the Indian team which won the gold in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

Rupinder will be seen in action in the super six of the Chennai Hockey Association senior division league scheduled to begin in the third week of December.

“I have not played in the senior division before. I am looking forward to it,” he says.