With his stupendous success at the junior level, Diwakar Ram forced his way into the senior Indian side. Y. B. Sarangi on the young drag-flicker.
THE HINDU

Diwakar Ram, the new shotgun in the armoury of the Indian hockey team, may still be enjoying his teen status, but with a mature head on his shoulders he knows his responsibilities well. The past year, the young drag-flicker’s career-graph has seen a steady growth and this explains how he graduated from the junior level to the senior side so quickly. In a junior eight-nation tournament in Monchengladbach, Germany, last August, Diwakar was almost unstoppable as India remained undefeated and topped the table in the preliminary league stage. However, the team lost in the semifinals to finish fourth, but Diwakar emerged the top-scorer of the tournament with eight goals.

Again in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in January this year, he figured prominently in India’s winning streak in another junior eight-nation tournament. India entered the final where it lost to Australia, which avenged its league stage defeat. Diwakar once again became the highest scorer of the tournament with 12 goals. With his stupendous success at the junior level, Diwakar forced his way into the senior side, though his first few assignments with the Indian team were not memorable.

The insignificant home Test series against Belgium, the disastrous Olympic qualifiers in Chile and the two forgettable series in Australia are engagements that would easily affect a youngster’s morale. But the 18-year-old kept his composure and waited for his turn. And it came in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia, where a brand new Indian side exhibited tremendous fighting qualities to make the final after a gap of 12 years. India returned with a silver medal.

It was a stern test for Diwakar in Ipoh as he fought against two senior professionals — Sandeep Singh and V. Raghunath — for a place in the playing XI. But his good track record in penalty corner conversion and his decent work as a fullback earned him a place and he did not waste the opportunities that came his way.

Coach Ajay Kumar Bansal is all praise for the talented youngster. “Sandeep was senior and the better player, so he deserved to get more chances. But Diwakar scored four goals in the limited chances he got. Besides, he is good at defence which is important for the side.”

Diwakar is also aware of the necessity to be good at both the jobs. “I am trying to improve both my drag-flick as well as defence. The main thing is one must possess the ability to play the full time. If one cannot do that then how will he get an opportunity to score off a penalty corner?”

The soft-spoken player from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, who idolises ace Pakistani drag-flicker Sohail Abbas and India’s Jugraj Singh, says he needs to add more power to his shots to enhance his strike rate. “I learnt a lot from Sandeep while playing alongside him. He has more power and aggression. I need to work on that. I have learnt about stepping from England’s Richard Mantell and accuracy from New Zealand’s Hayden Shaw,” Diwakar said.

Diwakar picked up a hockey stick at an early age and his progress as a player started when he was drafted into the Rampur sports hostel in UP eight years ago. Then he joined the Sports Authority of India Centre in Lucknow before getting into IndianOil Corporation (IOC) in 2006.

“Different coaches at different levels have helped me. Raj Kumar Yadav at Gorakhpur, Rakesh Sharma at Rampur, S. K. Lahiri at Lucknow and Joaquim Carvalho at IOC,” Diwakar said. But how did he take to drag-flicking? “I started it myself. Jugraj Singh was a big inspiration for me. At that time he was doing well and I chose to become drag-flicker by watching him,” Diwakar said.

So, what is his next target?

“Obviously, the focus is on the Junior Asia Cup (in Hyderabad from July 11). All the teams are good in the competition and we have to be well-prepared for that,” he said before signing off.