Punjab’s Sukhjeet Singh making most of second chance

Indervir Grewal

Chandigarh, April 3

Sukhjeet Singh could not have hoped for a better start to his India career. The striker from Punjab made a dream debut with a goal against Spain in the FIH Pro League in February.

But Sukhjeet was not going to get carried away by the early success, knowing from experience the uncertainty of the life in sports.

Four-year wait

Sukhjeet first got selected for the national camp in 2018. However, a serious back injury not only saw him lose his place in the core group, but also put his career in jeopardy. “It was a very bad phase of my life. I was bed-ridden for almost five months and the recovery process was very challenging,” said the 25-year-old.

Sukhjeet credited his family for motivating him during that period. “Whenever I felt like I was losing hope of making a comeback in hockey, my family motivated me. They always believed I had it in me to make the India cut someday,” he added.

It helped that Sukhjeet belonged to a hockey family. Sukhjeet took up the sport following in the footsteps of his father Ajit Singh, who played for Punjab Police.

After initial training in Jalandhar, Sukhjeet moved to Mohali, where he trained at the government academy for six years.

“He was with us from 2008 to 2014,” said Gurdeep Singh, Sukhjeet’s former coach at the Mohali academy. “He was a firecracker of a player from the beginning. He was so quick and had brilliant stick skills. He also worked hard in defence,” he added.

No wonder Sukhjeet got the attention of departmental teams very early. He played for various teams before getting recruited by Punjab National Bank (PNB).

However, Sukhjeet had his share of rejections and setbacks. “He was a contender for a place in the junior team that won the 2016 World Cup,” Gurdeep said. “Then his back injury got so aggravated that he couldn’t even walk. He also got injured during the on-field altercation between PNB and Punjab Police (during the final of the Nehru Cup in New Delhi) in 2019,” he added.

‘Determined’

Sukhjeet got over his disappointments and earned a call-back to the India camp with consistent performances on the national circuit. He finished the top-scorer at the inter-department Nationals last year. “Though I lost a chance in 2018, I was determined to make it back to the camp and worked really hard on my game and fitness,” Sukhjeet said.

Sukhjeet said he wanted to make the most of his second chance. “When I came into the camp, I had to work on understanding the structure of how the team plays and I would often pick other players’ brains,” he said. “I would ask about the structure the forwardline maintains and they were very helpful in getting me up to speed,” he added.

Sukhjeet has shown he is a quick learner. If the goal against Spain brought him into the spotlight, it was Sukhjeet’s decision-making and defensive work in the Argentina tie that stood out. He must have impressed head coach Graham Reid as well. Despite Reid experimenting with different team combinations, Sukhjeet was included in the Indian squad for three Pro League ties in a row.

“It feels great that I got a chance to play for India and I look forward to making this opportunity count,” Sukhjeet said.