As India put on an emphatic performance to win the first qualifying match against the USA at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, it comes off as little surprise that it was defender Gurjit Singh who grabbed the spotlight. The dragflicker converted a penalty corner in the 42nd minute of the match to a goal, with an impressive flick, and later on converted a penalty stroke to help her side to a 5-1 win. “Our team played really well. We wanted to do even better, but we were unable to certain things. We will look to bridge those gaps in the next game,” The Punjab-born said after the match.
Gurjit became an indispensable part of the team since coach Sjoerd Marijne first took over the reigns as the coach of the India national women’s team. Later, when Marijne was replaced by Harendra Singh, Gurjit continued to rise in stature as a dragflicker, as she piled on goals. During India’s Asia Cup title-run in 2017, Gurit scored eight goals to become the top-scorer in the tournament. The same year, at FIH Series Finals in Hiroshima, she scored nine goals, the most by any player.
Dragflicking was a skill which was never before associated with Indian women’s hockey teams in the past. But the 24-year-old has transformed herself into one of the best from India in the department, and her skills were on display against a tough USA team on Friday.
“It takes a lot of practice. You also require a lot of support from your team members. I saw videos of myself, including video of other players to improve my dragflicking skills,” she said, on being asked about the work that went behind the scenes.
{{/usCountry}}“It takes a lot of practice. You also require a lot of support from your team members. I saw videos of myself, including video of other players to improve my dragflicking skills,” she said, on being asked about the work that went behind the scenes.
{{/usCountry}}“When I started playing hockey, I did not know much about dragflicking. I learnt about it as I started seeing men and women players who perform this skill. I started experimenting with it after I joined the Indian national camp in 2012, and my hard-work started paying off, “ she added.
Before the all-important fixture, Gurjit was touted to be India’s key player. After a cagey first half, by which India had only taken a 1-0 lead, she lived up to the hype in front of a loud Bhubaneswar crowd. The penalty corners kept coming India’s way, providing her ample amount to polish her skills, before she finally sent one sailing through.
Despite scoring just one in seven PC’s, coach Sjoerd Marijne maintained he was impressed with her performance, and is not worried about it.
“I have worked a lot with Gurjit. If someone does not score too many goals from PC’s, it does not really mean that the training was not good. It also means that maybe the defense was excellent. Maybe, the pass from the corner was not good. Maybe the trapping was not good. It’s a combination of things that is required to get a good corner away,” the Dutch said after the match.