Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD

Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD

Get unlimited access to 10,000+ magazines, newspapers and Premium stories for just

$149.99
 
$74.99/Year

Try GOLD - Free

Drag-flicker Lakra makes a mark, guided by Peillat

Hindustan Times Ranchi

|

February 19, 2025

There is a big difference between the Amandeep Lakra of before and after Hockey India League (HIL).

- Sandip Sikdar

NEW DELHI: Going into the eight-team competition that ended on February 1, Lakra was an upcoming player who had made his mark at the junior level and was aspiring to make it to the India senior team.

Now, Lakra is on the fringes of India team selection with chief coach Craig Fulton including the 22-year-old among the core probables after a brilliant run in the HIL for Hyderabad Toofans, guiding the Sumit Walmiki-led side into the final.

Though the Toofans didn't win—they lost to Bengal Tiger—Lakra made a mark, scoring five crucial goals in the tournament. More importantly, the son of hockey coach Bijay Kumar Lakra got to share the dressing room with his idol and drag-flick legend Gonzalo Peillat for more than two months, which he says has helped him improve manifold.

MORE STORIES FROM Hindustan Times Ranchi

Hindustan Times Ranchi

‘A book like this sucks you in’

On translating Mahatma Gandhi's grand-nephew’s memoir, Jivannu Parodh, from the original Gujarati

time to read

2 mins

January 24, 2026

Hindustan Times Ranchi

Hindustan Times Ranchi

‘It is not the job of writing to be ethical; its job is to be true’

At the Jaipur Literature Festival, Richard Flanagan, the only writer in the world to have won both the Booker Prize and the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, talks about what stories mean to us

time to read

4 mins

January 24, 2026

Hindustan Times Ranchi

My heart, your deadline

‘90s rom-coms sold us The Pact: If you and your bestie are both single by a set age, you will get married. IRL, settling for a friend is such a bad idea

time to read

3 mins

January 24, 2026

Hindustan Times Ranchi

In Noida, reminder of the sinking state of humanity

Death shouldn't be a mere number.

time to read

2 mins

January 24, 2026

Hindustan Times Ranchi

Bastar: a traveller’s tale

In the introduction to Landscapes of Wilderness, the author Narendra confesses that his book is “not a formal sociological work” and is “more like a traveller's tale”.

time to read

3 mins

January 24, 2026

Hindustan Times Ranchi

Wait, is this Kolkata?

Kolkata’s food scene has got range. You can dig into 1947-era Lucknow biryani, contemporary food at cafés, and North-Eastern cuisine at top hotels

time to read

4 mins

January 24, 2026

Hindustan Times Ranchi

Govt may budget ₹9,800 crore for MDF

The government is set to operationalise the ₹25,000 crore Maritime Development Fund (MDF) by allocating ₹9,800 crore to it in the upcoming budget.

time to read

1 mins

January 24, 2026

Hindustan Times Ranchi

Hindustan Times Ranchi

The national anthem before our national anthem was adopted

The British struggled to give India a universally acceptable national anthem, given the country’s rich diversity of language, music and sensibilities. The freedom movement and independent India faced no such challenge

time to read

4 mins

January 24, 2026

Hindustan Times Ranchi

You don't want to hear this, but....

Wes Anderson films are (gasp) lowkey boring. Candles are not self-care. Even radical art is pretending. Andaz Apna Apna is unwatchable. We're airing the most unhinged opinions of our time. Consider this your trigger warning

time to read

5 mins

January 24, 2026

Hindustan Times Ranchi

Social media ban alone won't work

Protecting children online calls for a range of measures, including improving parental awareness to monitor risky behaviour

time to read

2 mins

January 24, 2026

Listen

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size