From the land of apples, snowy mountains and crystal streams, Himachal Pradesh, international sportspersons are few and far between. The hilly state is associated with tranquility, scenic beauty, serenity and places of worship. In the century gone by, athlete Suman Rawat, bronze medallist in the 1986 Seoul Asian Games, a sprinkling of volleyball players, striker Bhupinder Thakur, who excelled in the pre-World Cup football tournament of 1993 and hockey star Sita Gusain, who masterminded India’s gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, were some of the few from Himachal Pradesh to make an impact in international sports.
However, in the closing years of the twentieth century, there emerged from picturesque Una a fleet-footed hockey international forward, who could in the future years become Himachal Pradesh’s sporting icon. He is Deepak Thakur, who developed an interest in hockey whilst studying in Mount Shivalik school, Una. Deepak Thakur Sonkhla was born on December 28, 1980 in Bhamowal village in Hoshiarpur district. Deepak has a sister, younger to him, who is a national badminton player. At the age of nine years, his father, Nardev Singh, taught him the rudiments of the game. The father, who now works with the Himachal Pradesh state government, in Una, always encouraged his children to play.
He learnt the game watching others play at a field near his house. At the age of twelve years he got his first hockey stick. Deepak Thakur took to hockey like the proverbial duck to water. “I used to train at the stadium in Una, but there was no coach who could guide me,” he recalls nostalgically. Deepak’s hockey dreams would have withered away but fortunately his smouldering talent was spotted and properly harnessed in his formative years.
The big break came in 1993 when he was just thirteen years old. He got selected during the hockey trials at the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI’s) training centre in Ludhiana. He was inducted in the SAI Sports Promotion Development Area (SPDA) Training Centre in Patiala and for the first time he got the opportunity to have a feel of a synthetic hockey field at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala. The SPDA hockey centre in Patiala started in May 1991 with eight boys under SAI hockey coach Inderjit Singh Gill.
Deepak Thakur was not in the centre at that time. A year later, one player was removed from the centre, but in 1993, three more players — Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot Singh and Yudhvir — were inducted in it. In 1994, 13 more players joined the centre, which from then onwards got firmly established.
Deepak Thakur got motivated to excel in hockey when he witnessed the senior national team training at NIS Patiala. His current skipper Dhanraj Pillay became his role model. “I derived a lot of inspiration from Dhanraj Pillay’s style of playing. He is my model,” says Deepak Thakur. Another player who has inspired Deepak Thakur a great deal is Pakistan’s legendary inside forward, the mercurial Shahbaz Ahmed.
Deepak has tried to model his game on these two great forwards of the modern era.
However, old timers feel that Deepak Thakur with his speed, stealth, crafty placements and deflections resembles the dashing B.P Govinda who excelled for India and Indian Airlines in the early 1970s. Three decades ago Indian Airlines forward line was a joy to behold. Skilful inside forwards Inam-ur-Rehman and Ashok Kumar dazzled and beguiled with their mesmerising stick-work and dribbling skills. This talented duo provided the passes to the rampaging Govinda, who like a flashing meteor, would dart into space and shoot goalwards from all angles. This brilliant trio, were in full cry when Indian Airlines won the Nehru Cup at the Shivaji Stadium, Delhi in December 1971, ousting a cohesive and tenacious Great Britain XI 2-0 in the final.
There are shades of Govinda in Deepak Thakur’s predatory instincts — sense of opportunism in front of goal and sudden speed. When playing for the national team, his one time idol and current skipper Dhanraj Pillay is often the provider for Deepak Thakur who is the perfect fox in the box or artful dodger when in the striking circle. Many of Thakur’s international goals, about 40, have stemmed from Dhanraj Pillay’s measured passes. Their slick combination is a reminder of the dazzling brilliance of Ashok Kumar and B.P. Govinda three decades ago.
In the current national team, the stocky Deepak Thakur and the lanky Gagan Ajit are the Rivaldo and Ronaldo of Indian hockey. India relies on them for goals. Both came of age in the 7th Junior World Cup in Hobart, Australia in October, 2001. Deepak Thakur scored a hat-trick in the memorable 6-1 triumph over Argentina in the final and finished as the tournament’s top-scorer with 10 goals, all of them field goals. Earlier he had also scored four goals, including a hat-trick in the 7-1win against Scotland in a group C league match. Recalling those goals, Thakur says, “my third goal again