Hockey: Farmer’s son Arshdeep Singh impresses in the HIL to earn Indian team call-up | Hockey News

At the sidelines of the Hockey India League in Rourkela, India men’s team head coach Craig Fulton said that he was indeed looking at the tournament as a platform for selecting players into the senior squad ahead of the FIH Pro League in mid-February. On Thursday, when a 32-member team was named for the 8 matches coming up in Bhubaneswar, one of the notable young performers of the league saw his name added to the l: Hyderabad Toofans’ Arshdeep Singh.
Apart from his three goals for the Toofans in the league phase, Arshdeep’s overall gameplay has been a standout feature of the teams’ run to the semifinals. The 20-year-old from Lehark near Amritsar, Punjab made his junior team breakthrough at the Junior Men’s Asia Cup in Oman late last year where he scored six goals.
Born to a farmer, Arshdeep started playing hockey seeing his elder brother, and eventually joined Roundglass Punjab from where he made his mark in the nationals.
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Toofans’ team director Siddharth Pandey, who is a level 3 FIH certified coach, had scouted Arshdeep in the domestic events and made him one of the primary targets and brought him on board for Rs 11.5 lakh at the auction.
“His game intelligence really stands out for a young kid. I am a big fan of the work they do at Roundglass Punjab, from where Gurjot Singh has already made his senior debut. While he is a good player in own right, I personally feel Arshdeep is the one who is likely to have a long stint with the national side. It’s a well-deserved call-up,” Pandey says.
Arshdeep, who is pursuing bachelor’s degree in arts at Lyallpur khalsa College in Jalandhar, said the first thing he did after hearing about his call-up was to speak to his family.
“They were a big support for me when a few years back I felt like quitting the sport because I didn’t make it to the camp after nationals. That was a tough phase for me, but my brother and parents backed me,” Arshdeep told The Indian Express. “And HIL has now given me the platform to show my skills that have been recognised, without such exposure it’d have been difficult. At Toofans, I have been learning a lot from Jacob Anderson (Australia) who has personally helped me with sharpening my shooting skills.”Story continues below this ad
Pandey specifically pointed out Arshdeep’s ability to win Penalty Corners on attack, with his hustle in the forward line and the knack of finding spaces standing out. “You just have to watch the match against Lancers, and up against legends like Arthur van Doren and Alexander Hendrickx, he ran circles and played fearlessly. Ghuma daala unko, if I could use a local expression to describe that performance,” Pandey added.
Arshdeep, along with 22-year-old Angad Bir Singh for Vedanta Kalinga Lancers, are the two notable new additions to the squad, while Yashdeep Siwach – son of former India captain Pritam Rani Siwach – also returns to the senior setup after playing in a much-changed squad at the 2022 Asia Cup. “I have been scouting these players over the last few weeks and am excited to see what they do against some of the best international teams in the world,” Fulton told Hockey India.

India (both men’s and women’s teams) begin their Pro League campaigns in Bhubaneswar from February 15.
Just as was the case with the men’s squad, the inaugural women’s HIL also played a part in a few names coming into the national mix. Scorer of the two decisive goals for Odisha Warriors in the final, Rutuja Dadaso Pisal, made it to the first squad while Sonam Yadav and Sakshi Rana have made it to the reserves and could well feature in the second set of matches.

Vinayakk Mohanarangan is Senior Assant Editor and is based in New Delhi. … Read More