Penalty Corner expert Harmanpreet savours Asia Cup success

MUMBAI: The last year has seen Harmanpreet Singh go from strength to strength on the hockey pitch. The 19-year-old from Gurdaspur, who emerged the top-scorer in the Junior Men's Asia Cup on Sunday , with a whopping 15 goals has had a dream run during this period.
What's more, four of these 15 strikes came against arch rivals Pakistan in the final, a game that India dominated and won 6-2.Harmanpreet is back from Kuantan in Malaysia, after the hugely successful outing, and believes the goals have been a result of the hard work he has been putting in during the camps.
"I have been working really hard on all aspects of my game in the camps and am thankful for the encouragement and knowledge that our coach Harendra Singh has been providing," the softspoken drag-flicker told TOI on Wednesday .
Harmanpreet first caught the eye of hockey lovers in the country last October when his brace helped India beat Great Britain in the final of the Sultan of Johor Cup at Johor Bahru. He ended the tournament with nine goals. Soon, Hockey India League (HIL) franchise Dabang Mumbai paid $51,000 for him, and although the team struggled during the competition, the lad from the Surjeet Singh Academy in Jalandhar, justified his price tag, scoring five goals and emerging fourth in the list of top-scorers.
Recalling the game against Pakistan on Sunday , Harmanpreet claimed that there was no additional pressure on the shoulders of the young players.
"Before the match, our coach told us to just play our normal game without worrying about the eventual result. That's what we did and I am glad I was able to score those four goals."
However, Harmanpreet has not been able to celebrate his success post his return from Malaysia owing to bereavement in the family .
He believes the Asia Cup could not have been won on the back of a solo effort. "All of us were assigned roles in the team and we stuck to that. I scored most of the goals, but for that we needed to win penalty corners from the opponents which other team members did very well to get."
Speaking about his ambitions in the near future, Harmanpreet said: "I just want to continue working hard and doing well for whatever team am playing. I want to become a better defender and a better drag-flicker. As of now, that's what matters."
Meanwhile, Harendra is immensely satisfied with the progress that Harmanpreet has been making.
"He is obviously a very good player. But, what separates him from some others is his ability to take the sort of work load he has been handling. He is keen to improve every day and is very humble.
"That probably is the reason why he's having such an impact on the team," said the coach who is already charting plans for the Junior World Cup in 2016.