Hockey's next gen drag flick champs

Deepika Kumari and Araijeet Singh Hundal combine self-belief, enviable skills and mental training to put India on top

- Shail Desai

Over the past few weeks, Indian hockey has enjoyed two success stories with a similar storyline, threaded by a common link.

At the Women's Asian Champions Trophy in November, India were favourites as defending champions. The final stood goalless at half-time, until Deepika Kumari smashed home the winner to hand India a 1-0 win against China.

Then, during the final of the Men's Junior Asia Cup last week, the score read 3-3 at the end of the third quarter against Pakistan.

Having scored twice earlier in the game, Araijeet Singh Hundal stepped up in the final quarter with two more goals to help India defend their title.

By the end of the tournaments, Kumari (11 goals) and Hundal (10 goals) had another reason to celebrate after finishing as top scorers for India.

Besides their growing reputation as poachers, the two strikers have taken on an important responsibility—the art of drag flicks, traditionally left to the defenders.

This duo is changing all that.

"I first gave drag flicks a shot only in 2017. My coach, Azad Singh Malik, realised that I had the strength and asked me to have a go. At the time, I just enjoyed hitting the ball. I only realised how big a responsibility it was after joining the Indian team," Kumari, 21, says.

For Hundal, 20, it was a skill he started working on much earlier.

While growing up in Pakharpur near Amritsar, he picked up the tricks of the trade under his father, Kuljit Singh, a former full-back for the Railways, who insisted that his son play as a striker.

It was his suggestion that Hundal include drag flicks as part of the training sessions.

"It was a unique skill to have as a striker. But my father and I didn't know much about it. I would look up videos, so it was self-learning," Hundal says.