Rupinder struck his first hat-trick in the Tri-color against Great Britain at the 2011 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. At the conclusion of the tournament, he was announced as the joint top scorer alongside Pakistan international Sohail Abbas. He was also featured in the tournament’s All-Star Team as a recognition for his all-round display for the Indian national team.
He joyfully recollects the time when he was told be a defender on just the basis of his good height and said, “When you start hockey, people ask you be a defender in case you have a good height, the same thing happened with me. Then gradually the training started, and I got to know the basics of being a defender. When I went for the junior’s camp, Jugraj Singh started the procedures for the penalty corner training and that’s where I first learned the skill of drag flicking.”
“We have to be fully attentive while playing, can’t lose the sight of the ball even for a second”
The game of field hockey has seen a lot changes in the last two years or so, the new rule of introducing the self-pass has increased the speed of the game drastically, the long corners are being taken from the 25-yard line now rather than the sideline as it was 2 years ago. However, Rupinder assured that the teams have adapted well to the changes and said, “We have adapted to the new rules now, but we have to be fully attentive while playing, can’t lose the sight of the ball even for a second. Due to these new rules, the pace of the game has increased drastically in the last 2 years, anything can happen at any moment now.”
Both men and women national teams will be felicitated at the Hockey India 2nd Annual Awards. The awards will be given in recognition of the excellence in performance for 2015 and overall contribution to the game of hockey.
The second edition of the most coveted awards in Indian hockey carries a total prize money of over INR 2 crore. The awards will be held on 26 March 2016 in Bangalore which is also the current home ground of the national teams training at the SAI Centre.
