Times of India: HIL 2017: Nikkin Thimmaiah ready to roar for Dabang Mumbai

By Vineet Ramakrishnan

NEW DELHI: Hailing from Coorg, the hotbed of hockey in India, it was natural for Nikkin Thimmaiah to become a hockey player. Though he was a good athlete with a silver medal to his name in the 400m in junior nationals, hockey is where he had to end up.

Thimmaiah dazzled during his early years with the men’s national team before a string of injuries lead to a slump in form. After undergoing a shoulder surgery in 2015 that forced him to miss the 2016 Hockey India League (HIL), Thimmaiah roared back and led India to Asian Champions Trophy triumph in October last year. Leaving behind his injury woes, he is now focussed to do well for his HIL franchise Dabang Mumbai in the upcoming season.

In an exclusive chat with TOI Sports, the 26-year-old spoke about his team’s objective, his personal goals and his most cherished memories with the men’s national team.

Excerpts:

How have preparations been for the upcoming Hockey India League?

Preparations are going strong, we are practicing really well. We’ve got youngsters and very good foreign players and it has been good training with all of them. Last year the boys played really well but the results were not on our side. This year we have decided that whatever happened last season, we are not going to think about it and train hard and take the positives from the upcoming season and make sure we get in to the semis, and then go on from there.

Expectations for 2017?

This league is going to be tough for all the teams this year. I think others have a balanced unit. We have the Junior World Cup-winning players and they are a great addition to the squad. I missed out on playing with (Florian) Fuchs last year and am looking forward to playing with him. He is one of the best forwards the game has seen in recent memory. We have Robbert Kemperman, Nilkanta, Manpreet from the junior team and Affan Yousuf and these guys have done really well and I think the team gets a boost seeing their performance. It is like you have to do 10 per cent more because you are a senior in this team, and it is a healthy competition within the team itself and this will be a good season for us.

Missing last year’s HIL was tough…

It was a bad feeling that I couldn’t be part of the team last year. But this time, I am focused and looking forward to do whatever I am good at and contribute to the team’s success and make sure we reach the semi-finals.

Indian hockey had a fantastic 2016. What according to you were the reasons behind the success?

It is like a four year cycle for us – Olympics to Olympics. We put in a lot of time in our practice and that preparation got us good results. Personally for me, it was about getting back stronger after every injury. In 2015, I injured my shoulder and underwent a surgery but I got back stronger. I worked hard and that helped a lot. Whatever I could contribute I did. My team-mates supported me and the team gelled together well and we had a great season.

Talking about your contribution, it was your goal in the final against Pakistan that helped India win the Asian Champions Trophy last year…

Definitely winning against Pakistan is always memorable and scoring the winner was a great thing for me. It will always remain in my memory and will cherish that forever. We had decided that we had to win the tournament because we are Asia’s No 1 team; we are ranked sixth in the world. So we wanted to remain Asia’s top team by winning the tournament. We had a different strategy under Roelant Oltmans and that worked. It was a good tournament for us.

One of your best performances at the international level came in the 2015 Sultan Azlan Shah Trophy where you scored a hat-trick against Australia. How important was that tournament for you?

It was a great tournament for me. I scored five goals and it was under Paul Van Ass. Beating Australia was a memorable moment and a dream come true because they are such a good team. Going on to win and having hat-trick to my name was something great. Credit goes to the entire team, the coach. We had a lot of up and downs in that tournament but the team had the belief and confidence and it will always be a tournament that I will remember.

You have been part of teams coached by Roelant Oltmans, Paul Van Ass and Terry Walsh. How has your development been as a player under all three?

Under Oltmans (then high performance director) I made my debut in the 2013 Asia Cup which I will never forget. It was a great learning experience for me. I learned a lot under him. He explains things very well with one-on-one chats with the players. It is nice to have him around. Terry was a great coach as well. I think I developed in to a good player under Terry. And all the coaches I worked under helped me gain confidence as a player. Oltmans is helping me now. He told me that I had to work on my weak points like I used lack a bit of vision, my stealing wasn’t that good and he recognised that and asked me to work on in. I concentrated on that then worked on my fitness as well. I had to strengthen my whole body as I was prone injury. I missed out on the World Cup (2014) because of an injury (hamstring) and I don’t want that to happen again.

Was playing hockey always your dream?

Back in Coorg, hockey is big. You might be know that the biggest hockey tournament in the world – The Family tournament (Kodava Hockey Festival) – takes place there every year, so naturally I got interested in hockey. My dad was a hockey player too and he supported me a lot. Then I joined a school in Bangalore, St. Joseph’s Indian High School, which is really good for sports. I was good in all the sports and so I decided to give Athletics a try. I bagged a silver medal in the Under-16 400m nationals. But it came down to a point where I had to choose what sport to pursue further. It was a tough decision and my dad helped with that. My mom has been a very supportive person and she has helped me through my ups and downs. She has been like my mentor and now here am playing for India.

Any childhood idols growing up?

I used to look up to Dhanraj Pillay, Sardar Singh – these two are the role models for me. Then Teun de Nooijer was someone whom I followed. But mainly my dad, for obvious reasons.

Any personal goals that you have set for the upcoming HIL season?

As I missed out on the last season I want to see my team get to the top and I will put all my efforts in to that. I am working on it, also my goal scoring and all the activities the team is doing is aimed at finishing the job at hand.