Lack of penalty corner conversion worrying teams

At the ongoing Senior National Hockey Championship converting penalty corners (PCs) into goals has become a sore point for teams.

Sample this: All 20 teams in A division including top rankers Railways, Punjab etc have been unable to convert the penalty corners at a better rate. In 44 matches played so far there is hardly anything special to discuss about penalty corner conversion. Out of over two dozen PCs in all four quarterfinals on Thursday, hardly 3-4 could be converted as most the teams chose to convert the opportunities through field goal.

“Yes, penalty corner conversion has become a rare thing in domestic matches and it’s really a matter of great concern as converting PC is an art that helps a side enjoy additional dominance over rivals,” former India player Imran-ul-Haq told HT on Friday. “Still we have four matches to go in the nationals here and I believe that now the time has come when teams need to pay more emphasis on PC conversion as it would give them an advantage,” he said, adding, “So far I didn’t find even a single outstanding drag-flicker in the championship here and this isn’t good for the future of Indian hockey.”

In the quarterfinal match between Punjab and hosts Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, Punjab could convert just one PC into goal out of three and also missed one penalty stroke in the first quarter itself. UP players too failed to convert PCs into goals. They had one PC in the first quarter besides having two in the third and one in the fourth quarter.

“Certainly, domestic matches provide optimum opportunity for our drag-flickers to sharpen their skills, trying new variations etc. I am hopeful that in the remaining four matches in the championship we would see better PC conversion rate from the boys,” ex-India captain Rajnish Mishra said.

In the Air India (AI) and Punjab and Singh Bank (P&SB), AI too could convert just one out of five, whereas P&SB had 100 per cent success rate as they converted the only opportunity into goal to level the score, before converting three in a row in penalty shootout to win the crucial tie 4-3. “I believe that every state team needs to have one dragflick expert to let their boys know how to master themselves in this skill. We have many big names of drag-flicking in India itself from whom our players can draw inspiration,” said Mishra.

Certainly, all eyes, including off national selector Syed Ali, would be on spotting future hopes of drag-flicking when the two semi-finals of the Senior National Hockey Championship take place here on Saturday, at the Padamshree Mohd Shahid stadium. Defending champions Railways would take on Chandigarh at 3.00 pm while runners-up Punjab would clash with P&SB at 5.00 pm. The final is slated for Sunday.