Penalty corners India’s weak link
BHUBANESWAR: The Indian women’s team earned seven penalty corners (PCS) against the United States in the first match of the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers at Bhubaneswar on Friday. They converted only two. India’s high-tempo play resulted in a 5-1 victory, but their shortcoming with the PC was plain to see. They almost paid for it in the second leg of the match, where India somehow scraped through on 6-5 aggregate after losing the match 1-4; of the 4 PCS India got, none were converted, while the USA scored one out of their three.
In the first leg against Russia, the men’s team converted only two of the five short corners. They fared far better in the second match, converting four of the five penalty corners on Saturday.
The performances once again opened the debate on India’s lack of success with penalty corners, despite having specialist drag flickers in both the men’s and the women’s teams, and a specialist coach for PCS for the men’s team.
“It happens…the rate of conversion goes up and down,” Graham Reid, chief coach with the men’s team, said. “In our recent Europe tour, we failed to score off nine penalty corner chances in our first match but had a near 100% record in the next three matches against Spain and Belgium. We’ve been working on this aspect for a long time and there has been a lot of improvement.”
The men’s team has three specialists—harmanpreet Singh, Rupinderpal Singh and Amit Rohidas, who has established himself as the next generation waiting to step up. Yet, on Friday, India missed Varun Kumar, a drag flicker who had to withdraw from the event because of a shoulder injury. Varun had scored five goals off penalty corners in the FIH Men’s Series Finals at the same Kalinga Stadium in June.
Though statistics on the average rate of penalty corner conversion is not available, experts say that a success rate of anything between 25 to 35% is par; above that, it’s great.
The men’s team has put in plenty of effort in the last few years to improve their PC skills. The team’s assistant coach, Australia’s Chris Ciriello, is one of the finest drag flickers to play the game. For the women, it’s a new development; Gurjit Kaur, a 23-year-old defender, only started learning the skill two years back, and is still developing her technique and experience. She is the only one in the team who does it.
“I have gained lot of confidence from the support I have received from my coaches,” Gurjit said. “I am picking up this art as nobody used to do this in the Indian team before me. I have worked a lot on this aspect of my game and am hoping to improve further.”
Penalty corners remain the most successful route to scoring in hockey, and PC specialists are given elaborate training to get their routines right. Players say that one reason behind their lack of success is that the PC is not taught extensively at grassroots or junior levels, and they often pick it up on their own.
Once at the national level, where a proper system for teaching the skill exists, it can prove difficult to undo the faulty techniques learnt in formative years. “It is not easy to change the technique and style once you come into the national team,” Rupinderpal said. “If Ciriello or any other expert wants to change my technique, it will be difficult for me. I can only make minor adjustments, changes in the length of drag, angle of the flick or some variations.”