20-year-old star striker does city proud

Deepankar Sharda

Chandigarh, June 10

Angad Bir Singh, emerging star of Indian hockey, has proved that there’s no dearth of talent in Chandigarh even if one doesn’t carry the tag of being a trainee of the state-run hockey academy.

Hogs limelight in Jr Asia Cup final

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Angad Bir Singh, 20-year-old star striker, who is perhaps the first hockey player from Chandigarh to represent the nation after being born and brought up here, hogged the limelight with his performance in the final of the Junior Asia Cup.

The 20-year-old star striker, who is perhaps the first hockey player from Chandigarh to represent the nation after being born and brought up here, hogged the limelight with his performance in the final of the Junior Asia Cup. The Indian team won the final by defeating arch rivals Pakistan (2-1). Angad contributed to the team’s title win by scoring the first goal in the final.

Following in the footsteps of his sister, a former athlete, Angad started playing hockey at the Sector 42 six-a-side turf under coach Alpinder Singh. Though he wanted to train with players of the state-run hockey academy, he didn’t get a chance to do so.

However, everything happens for good. While Alpinder would teach him skill drills, Angad’s father Arvinder Singh would ensure the youngster practices it on a daily basis. After spending his initial years here, Angad was lucky to find former Olympian Deepak Thakur, who honed his work and showed him the way to live his dream.

“He’s a god gifted talent. Like his sister, he was good in speed and we decided to work on his skills. His father did a superior job by ensuring his follow-up every day. There was time when he would perform strength work during the wee hours and later perform practise on the field. In all these years, he played for several teams and even got an opportunity to get into Khelo India programmes. He has represented Chandigarh in many nationals and perhaps, the first player form the city (who is born and brought up here) to play for the nation,” said Alpinder.

Angad, who did schooling from Ryan International School, Sector 49, is currently pursing BCA (final-year) from GGDSD College, Sector 32. Angad was also given the Player of the Match prize against Thailand in a pool match of the Asia Cup. He was also part of the U-21 national team that triumphed in The Sultan of Johor Cup held in Malaysia, last October.