RAGHUNATH, SANDEEP SHARE THE BURDEN OF SCORING FROM PENALTY CORNERS AS INDIA EMBARK ON A JOURNEY TO REGAIN THEIR LOST GLORY

Chennai: In any sport, standing in the defence is always a thankless job. The forwards walk away with the accolades because they score goals. However, the defenders added one more function to their role over the years — to take penalty corners. The “drag-flickers”, as they are redesignated, have become an essential ingredient of modern hockey in the last one decade.

Since its inception in 1992, the drag-flick has revolutionised penalty corner conversions. The Dutch man Taco van den Honert set a new mark in the conversions with telling effect.

The drag-flick is a specialist goal scoring shot, played as a set piece during penalty corners. It combines three vital aspects — speed, accuracy and anticipation of the flicker. The push, stop and the flick, altogether will take only two seconds.

The Dutchman Bram Lomans, who had played a pivotal role in The Netherlands’ triumph in the Champions Trophy in Chennai, showed its destructive effect on his rivals.

The “Dutch invention” left the hockey fraternity awestruck. Sohail Abbas of Pakistan, Taeke Taekama of Netherlands and Jorge Lombi of Argentina became stars in the Champions Trophy in The Netherlands in 2003.

India got their first world-class drag-flicker in Jugraj Singh in early 2000. The Punjab player’s career was cut short by a freak car injury. He recovered well, but not enough to compete at the highest level. Another Punjab lad Sandeep Singh emerged soon. But the almighty had written something else for Sandeep. When he was at his peak, the stout defender had met with an uncanny incident during a train journey. A bullet hit him, which almost ended his career, but the lanky player made a comeback for India in the Azlan Shah Cup this year.

Apart from Sandeep India has found VR Raghunath of Karnataka during the last World Cup in Germany. Raghunath showed immense potential at the highest level.

According to Sandeep and Raghunath — the latest hopes of India as far as the drag-flick is concerned, people have a different concept about dragflickers and they also have high level of expectation from them.

“It’s impossible to convert each and every penalty corner. You hardly get 4-5 PCs in a match, but how many can you covert into a goal? Though as a drag-flicker I try our best to score each and every goal, but sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t. For us luck plays an important role,” Raghunath, who plays for Indian Oil Corporation in the ongoing All-Indian MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup, said.

Sandeep, who represents Air India, feels the combination is very important. “A drag-flickers job is totally different from what people think. We only get 2 seconds to execute the whole action and how many times you can be accurate in such a short time? We need an extraordinary coordination among three players – pusher, stopper and flicker — which is not very easy. Now the game has become technical. Most of the European teams hire video analyst, who dissect all your moves. The job of a drag-flicker has become difficult.” Sandeep said.

Earlier this year at a Bangalore conditioning camp Sandeep was asked to drag 350-400 shots a day by the former India coach. The devoted coach did it to hone his pupil’s skills. But Sandeep thinks for an experienced player like him, 50-70 shots per day would have been enough to perfect his flicks.

“I’m not learning it. I’ve been flicking at international level for quite sometime. Why do I need to take that many shots? Do you think I will have any more energy left in my body to carry on,” Sandeep said.

Both Sandeep and Raghunath had played for Frankenthal and White & Blue in the German League last year where they had enjoyed a good campaign and also gained good experience.

“I had scored 11 goals in the first leg of the league and in the second keg I had played only three matches and scored four goals. The stint with Frankenthal had helped me improve my skills and gave me a different exposure. In India, we don’t have specialised training for dragflickers, but in Germany I had undergone modern training and learnt many techniques. In India, excessive training makes you so tired, you get physically drained and fail to give your hundred per cent in the match,” Sandeep said.

“I scored 10 goals in the first leg of the German league and couldn’t take part in the second leg due to my national commitments,” Raghunath said.

The whole process involves a lot of risks. For a defender, who stands on the goalline to stop the ball, or who runs in to interrupt the flicker, it is nothing less than suicide run, said both Raghunath and Sandeep.

“When I flick the ball it creates a speed of 130 kmph, which is no less than a bullet. Once Sohail hit Dilip Tirkey on his right cheek, still you can see the swelling. Now we wear protective masks, but nothing can save you if destiny has something else in its mind,” Sandeep explained.