Times of India: I worked hard on my basics, says Nikkin Thimmaiah

By Sunil Subbaiah

BENGALURU: After a stellar performance at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in 2015, Nikkin Thimmaiah had to endure an indifferent season this year. His trapping and receiving was not up to the mark, he struggled to work the ball along and his passing too was weak.
Enduring a prolonged slump in form, Thimmaiah decided to focus on his game and got back stronger. His confidence received a boost at the Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) in Malaysia when he scored the winner as India defeated Pakistan 3-2 to clinch their second title on Sunday.

“I wasn’t scoring because I wasn’t receiving the ball well while my running with the ball wasn’t effective. I worked on all these issues before going to Rio Olympics in August and and got the results,” said Thimmaiah, who along with his teammates PR Sreejesh, Birendra Lakra and SK Uthappa, arrived on Monday night.
Although Thimmaiah scored only two goals in the tournament, he is happy with the overall improvement he has shown. “Compared to last year I am playing much better from the last two tournaments. I am happy with my performance,” said Thimmaiah, who scored the winner against Korea in a crucial Champions Trophy league encounter in London earlier this year.

Talking about the intense final against Pakistan, Thimmaiah said: “We knew Pakistan were weak playing on the lines. We focused on that area and were successful. There were some anxious moments in the second half when Pakistan fought back to draw 2-2, but we stuck to our plans to beat them,” he said.

Meanwhile, his fellow teammate Uthappa, who played a key role in the midfield, said the strategies they adopted to earn penalty corners worked well for the team. “Before ACT, we struggled to force penalty corners. So we spent a lot of time in the camp working on it. This helped us score more goals in Malaysia,”he said.
Uthappa also pointed out that India-Pakistan hockey rivalry no longer puts extra pressure on the players. “There was absolutely no pressure on us. We just treated it as just another match,” he said.

Going forward, Uthappa said the team’s focus is to do well at bigger events. “We are No. 1 in Asia and we look to dominate in global events,” he said.
The Indian team will regroup at SAI centre on Sunday to prepare for the four-nation series in Melbourne from Nov 23-27.