Brother's crucial advice changed promising midfielder Rajinder's career path

Rajgir (Bihar), Aug 30 (PTI) Young Rajinder Singh is fast emerging as the next big thing of Indian hockey, but the player from Sirsa district in Haryana would not have reached this stage had not his elder brother, who is currently settled in Australia, insisted him to stick to the sport by staying put in the country.

Just when he started his career, Rajinder thought of clearing International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examination, required to study abroad, and move to Brisbane to be with his brother.

But a sane advice from his brother changed his decision.

"I started hockey in 2014 at the age of 13-14. Before that I never played hockey. My goal was to clear IELTS and settle abroad. I planned to go to Australia and settle there but now my career path has completely changed," Rajinder, who made his senior team debut last year, told PTI in an interview on the sidelines of the ongoing men's Asia Cup.

"My brother is settled in Australia in Brisbane and he advised me to continue hockey, that was sometime in 2016-17. I became serious with hockey in 2016 when astro-turf was laid at our village.

"He told me 'shifting to Australia is always open for you but you just continue with your passion first'," added the 22-year-old midfielder, who lives with his father, mother and elder sister in India.

Rajinder made his senior debut in October last year during a two-match series against Germany, where he shone bright and eight months later, he became a key member of the Indian senior team. He rose through the junior ranks and was part of the Indian team for the Sultan of Johor Cup in 2022 and the Junior Asia Cup in 2023.

"People play hockey a lot in my village. Sadar Singh, Gurmail hail from my village, so I started hockey watching them," he said.

Rajinder looks upto senior midfielder Manpreet Singh, skipper Harmanpreet Singh and Hardik Singh.

"I get to learn from Manpreet paaji, Harmanpreet paaji. They guide me when I make any mistakes. Even Hardik paaji also helps me a lot.

"I took it in a positive way that I am being compared with many senior players. I try to put in hard work and give importance to my performance," he said.

Rajinder is confident of the winning the tournament and directly qualify for next year's World Cup to be jointly hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands from August 14 to 30.

"Preparation is pretty good. Before Asia Cup we went to Australia and had some good, tough matches there and we performed pretty well there. Hopefully, we will win all the matches and win the Asia Cup.

"Little bit of pressure is there but we are ready for that and we want to qualify for World Cup from here," he said.

"We worked on a lot of areas in Australia, like Penalty Corner defence, PC conversions. We are creating chances but we need to convert them. We also worked on not to concede silly goals." Rajinder has been in fine form this year, and also played a vital role for the Hyderabad Toofans in the Hockey India League 2024-25 season, helping his franchise finish as runners-up. PTI SSC SSC PDS PDS