Bhubaneswar: Kalinga Lancers might have fared poorly in the Hockey India League but their player Angad Bir Singh did enough to impress India coach Craig Fulton as he was called up to the Indian team for the first time for FIH Pro League and made his debut against Ireland last Saturday.
Although he scored just two goals during HIL, it was his trick shot during the penalty shoot-outs against Tamil Nadu Dragons that took the internet by storm. After running towards the goal, he made two 360-degree turns in front of goalkeeper David Harte before putting the ball into the net.
He has been practising it often and had even scored similarly against PR Sreejesh during one of the joint training sessions earlier when the Indian senior team used to train with the juniors.
“It was an incredible feel-good moment to score a goal against Sreejesh in that fashion and our coach CR Kumar applauded me as well,” the youngster had said with a hearty laugh. “I always try it out during the training sessions and the coaches are also aware of it. But I don’t overdo it.”
While the goal certainly helped the player from Punjab grab the limelight, it was his goal against Pakistan in the Junior Asia Cup final in 2023 that remains the most memorable one. That year he also competed in a Four Nations meet in Germany and the Sultan of Johor Cup and achieved a lot of success.
But the next year he was no longer eligible for the junior team and was out of the camp. And the seniors, meanwhile, were preparing for the Olympics.
“It was a difficult time and for six to seven months I worked on my own with all the data and videos that I had, at Sector 42 Sports Complex in Chandigarh. My teammates like Araijeet Singh Hundal also helped me out and guided me,” added the youngster.
For now, he is focused on learning as much as possible from the senior players and the coaches and being involved in everything. “It’s all new but the HIL exposure and training with the India players is helping me gain experience,” said Angad after the game on Saturday.
Interestingly, he never trained in any academy and learned the game during his childhood days from former Team India players like Deepak Thakur, Rupinder Pal Singh, and Rajpal Singh – all of whom used to train at Sector 42.
Speaking of it, Rupinder said, “He used to come down as a kid and it was his father who made sure that he trained diligently every day. He always wanted to see his son play for India and this is great news that he has got a call-up to the India team.”