By ERROL D’CRUZ

Jaskaran Singh blossoming in the India team has warmed the cockles of a former international – Rajinder Singh Chauhan, his father.

Recently, the 26-year-old got on to the score sheet in the final practice match against Argentina which India won 4-2. Although the match is classified as a friendly, the splendid goal he scored to put his team 2-0 up will have done wonders for the confidence of the midfielder who has collected six caps.

Olympian and World Cupper Rajinder Singh Jr

Sixty-one-year-old Rajinder ‘Junior’, as he was commonly called to differentiate from his senior namesake and colleague in the defence donned the country’s colours from 1981-86. His dream of seeing Jaskaran follow in his footsteps, however, didn’t seem to be coming true. If anything, his son showed interest in cricket and was selected to the district team when 13 years of age, something that not surprisingly wasn’t greeted with too much enthusiasm from his father.

“He used to occasionally go to the hockey ground with me in his school days but hardly showed keenness for the game,” Jalandhar-based Rajinder, former India coach, recollects.

In fact, Jaskaran even took to golf for a while but the hockey stick remained in the corner, much to Rajinder’s disappointment.

Moreover, Jaskaran has had a firm head over shoulders when it came to academics and after securing a B.Com degree began his quest for an M.B.A. degree.

“It was only when he was in college that he took to hockey and his interest for the game grew when the HIL started,” Rajinder explains.

“He worked hard and soon won a place in the Combined Universities team for the Nationals. He then excelled at the Punjab Sindh Bank (PSB) academy where I coached and I made sure he was put through hard training,” says Rajinder, a Dronacharya awardee.

It all came together for the late bloomer Jaskaran. “He was selected to the Punjab team for the National championship and summoned to the India camp in 2015. The Hockey India League (HIL) fuelled his passion for the game and in time he was picked by UP Wizards,” recalls Rajinder.

Current international hockey player Jaskaran Singh, proud son of Rajinder Singh Jr.

Jaskaran’s tenure in the HIL was cruelly cut short by a hamstring injury after just one game but there was no denying him a pathway to donning the country’s colours. In the meantime, he sparkled at the PSB Academy and made trips to Canada where he assisted clubs in Vancouver and Toronto.

“Jaskaran also did well in the Bombay Gold Cup, Senior Nehru Cup and the National championships,” Rajinder recounts.

It was a matter of time he donned the India colours and, when he did, Rajinder’s joy of having his son play for the country knew no bounds. “I am very happy that my son too plays for India,” Rajinder, who has two daughters settled in Canada, states quite proudly. Jaskaran finally earned his spurs, travelling to Australia for a test series and to Japan for the Olympic test event in Tokyo in 2019.

A midfielder with the capacity to attack and defend with equal adeptness, Jaskaran has the requisite skills, fitness and strength according to a pleased Rajinder who hopes his son continues to gain exposure which will only help his confidence grow.

Rajinder knows too well the trials and tribulations of competitive hockey, having gone through the grind during his heyday.

Not the one to grumble at rule changes that have steadily changed the face of the game in the decades since he retired from international hockey, Rajinder likes the self-pass. “It encourages skills like dodging and dribbling and, with five yards at one’s disposal, gives a player time to think and effect an intelligent move,” Rajinder opines.

Back in the days when the drag-flick wasn’t yet thought about and off-side still in force, he represented Punjab Police and Northern Railway before joining PSB, playing and later coaching their teams till retirement 32 years down the line.

Rajinder made his debut in a test series against the visiting erstwhile Soviet Union in 1981, represented India at the New Delhi Asian Games the following year and was in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic squad. After retiring from international hockey, he focussed on coaching and his tutelage at PSB has resulted in a glittering trophy cabinet for an outfit committed to the cause of the game.

Rajinder now coaches young players – right from the age of five – at the Surjit Hockey Academy. His busy schedule keeps him at the ground from 7 am up until dusk.

Not that he minds. Rajinder considers himself to be a man on a mission and one who, in his words, is “made for hockey.”

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