Papa’s unfulfilled dream became Arijit’s inspiration, takes inspiration from Virat – Dainik Savera Times

New Delhi: His grandfather played hockey, his father and his three brothers also played hockey but no one could make a place in the Indian team and now Arijit Singh Hundal, the only hockey player in this family, fulfilled everyone’s unfulfilled dream by making it to the national team for the Paris Olympics. Want to do. Arijit said in an interview given to Bhasha from Bhubaneswar, “If I am able to make a place in the Paris Olympic team, there will be a festival like atmosphere at our house. There will be such happiness on everyone’s face that even I have never seen. I also want to see the same happiness and will fight for it with my life.”

Drag-flicker and striker Hundal, who was involved in the national camp being held in Bhubaneswar before the Australia tour in connection with the Olympic preparations, made his debut in the senior team on the South Africa tour this year. Twenty-year-old Hundal had scored the maximum four goals for India including a hat-trick against Korea in the Junior World Cup played in Kuala Lumpur in December. He said, “It is the dream of the entire family that I play the Olympics. Grandfather used to play hockey. Papa had three brothers and all of them have played hockey at the national level. Everyone got the job on the basis of hockey but no one could make a place in the Indian team.

He said, “My father was in the national camp in 1999 but due to family reasons he had to leave the camp midway. Now I am the last one left because no one else in the family plays except me. But I am sure that I will fulfill their dreams.” Arijit, who is doing BA from LPU, said about playing at the senior level, ”Senior hockey is completely different from junior. I played junior hockey for three-four years and have also played two World Cups. I was selected in the senior team only after seeing my performance in the last World Cup.

He said, “I got a chance to make my debut in South Africa and then in the FIH Pro League in India against big teams like Netherlands and Australia. It is our good fortune that we have got a place in the camp organized for the preparation of Olympics at the very beginning of our senior career. Hundal, who scored a goal in the penalty shootout against Netherlands in Rourkela, said that he did not think about the pressure. Showed a natural game. Hundal said, “There were a lot of spectators in the ground and I did not think that I would get a chance.”

But when I got it, I thought that this is the opportunity to do something and if I miss it, I will get nothing but regrets. The senior players also explained to me not to come under pressure and to play naturally. He said that the coordination between the junior and senior players in the team is excellent, which is helping a lot. He said, “The bonding between junior and senior players is very good. If you have any questions or are nervous, go to him without any hesitation and ask. He scolds us when we make mistakes on the field and also encourages us when we play well.

Talking about healthy competition in the team, he said, “It is good that the junior players are motivating the seniors to perform well and the juniors are putting in extra efforts after seeing the seniors. This healthy competition is also necessary for the team. If we don’t push each other, how will the team’s performance graph go up?” Drag-flickers are usually defenders, but how did he start doing drag-flicks while being a striker in a different way? When asked about this, he said, “I have been a striker since childhood but once I tried dragging, I enjoyed it a lot.”

After this, I focused on drag flick and kept learning slowly.” He said, ”Our captain Harmanpreet is my favourite. I don’t copy his style but I learn a lot from him technically. Apart from hockey, Hundal’s favorite player who is fond of cricket is Virat Kohli, from whom he gets to learn a lot. He said, “My favorite cricketer is Virat Kohli because his attitude, aggression and confidence are inspiring. There is a lot to learn from them. I watch his interviews to see how he plays in the match and how he responds to the opposition players.