Earning Penalty Corners is a Must-Have Skill for Forwards in Modern Hockey: Indian Forward Lalit Upadhyay

Lalit Upadhyay provides the ‘experience’ quotient to the Indian men hockey team’s forwardline. As they say there is ‘no substitute for experience’, Lalit has time and again showed how having seasoned players in the side can bring the X-factor to a side. And we can jog our memory to the pulsating 2024 Paris Olympic quarterfinal shootout against Great Britain, where all his ‘wealth of experience’ came into play. “I have never felt any kind of pressure playing for India simply because I have changed the definition of the word ‘pressure’ and term it as a ‘challenge’. Playing hockey and living up to expectations of all and sundry is a ‘challenge’ and nothing comes easy. During our Paris Olympics quarterfinal shootout the only thing that was in my mind was the country’s medal hopes are resting on five of us (Lalit along with Harmanpreet, Sukhjeet, and Raj Kumar Pal were the shootout takers). Engaging in a shootout was a comfortable zone for me as I’m doing this effectively for years across tournaments but the occasion made me realize the responsibility we all (five of us) had towards the country,” says the 30-year-old striker from Varanasi in an exclusive chat with Hockey Passion.

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The two-time Olympian, who has made 176 international appearances and scored 41 goals, shares a nice perspective on donning the national jersey in the Olympics. “I think representing the country in the Olympics is one thing and representing the responsibility to regain the lost glory of Indian hockey is quite another. The 2021 Tokyo Olympics bronze medal was important in the context of instilling a strong belief that India hockey is on its way to regain its lost glory, while the 2024 Paris Olympics bronze triumph was to serve a statement that the Tokyo effort was no fluke. I’m sure people would put a lid on the never-ending talk of India regaining lost hockey glory with two Olympic bronze medals,” explains the soft-spoken hitman, who is employed with Uttar Pradesh Police as DSP.

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Modern hockey is evolving fast which has created a pressing need for forwards worldwide to keep reinventing themselves to be able to make a big impact in the game. “Indian forwards have a big reputation for our in-ball skills and not much known for our off-the-ball skills. Having robust off-the-ball skills is crucial when you play European teams or even Australia, who employ tight marking but against Asian teams it may not be a much of a challenge. The advent of foreign coaches in our ecosystem has helped significantly improve our off-the-ball skills over the last decade or so. Any forwardline with solid off-the-ball skills would be better placed to inflict more damage on the opposition,” the three-time World-Cupper, who had made his senior international debut against Belgium at the 2014 World Cup at The Hague.

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Teams across the globe, not just India, are finding it hard to score field goals because deep defences of teams today are much well trained and make it tough to score field goals. “It is getting tougher to score field goals in modern hockey – I know many former players would say we are not getting ‘enough field goals’ – it is not just India, all teams are finding it exceedingly challenging to score open play goals. In modern hockey, forwards must learn the art of creating of penalty corner or strokes for their drag-flickers because if any team have very good drag-flickers it makes sense. Winning shorties is a must-have skill nowadays for forwards,” quips Lalit, who has been of the gold-winning and bronze-winning 2023 and 2018 Asian Games teams.

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Staying at national camps for long period involves making many sacrifices that includes refraining from gorging on favourite food. Lalit is using the ‘rest period’ to try out his favourite food.”Mutton paper dry is something I prefer as a starter – I also relish Litti Chokha which is quite famous in Purvanchal as well as Tangdi Kebab,” reveals Lalit, who is married to a national-level hockey player.

So how life has changed as a person after his marriage to Diksha Tiwari? “I haven’t changed much as a person ever since I got married last year – hockey keeps me busy. My wife hails from Gorakhpur – she has played national-level hockey as a fullback for Madhya Pradesh and is employed with Indian Railways. She tells me how to dodge as she knows I’m passionate about dribbling,” grins Lalit as the conversation ends on a lighter note.

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