Murugappa Gold Cup: Lesser-known Joginder, with goals aplenty to his name, hopes to make it to National camp

With six goals in five games, RSPB’s Joginder leads the goal-scoring chart in the 95th edition of one of the country’s oldest domestic tournaments, the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup.

The defender scored a hattrick in a comfortable 4-0 win for the reigning champion over Hockey Odisha in the semifinals at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium on Saturday. | Photo Credit: VEDHAN M /THE HINDU

A simple Google search about ‘Joginder Singh’ provides links to the profiles of a Param Vir Chakra Awardee, an Olympic gold medallist in field hockey from 1964, a former national basketball player and a former domestic cricketer as the top results.

One has to type certain keywords to find a lesser-known namesake of the above list - a 25-year-old hockey player representing Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) at the All India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup in Chennai.

With six goals in five games, RSPB’s Joginder leads the goal-scoring chart in the 95th edition of one of the country’s oldest domestic tournaments. The defender scored a hattrick in a comfortable 4-0 win for the reigning champion over Hockey Odisha in the semifinals at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium on Saturday.

Joginder Singh of Raiways Sports Promotion Board scores a goal against Hockey Association of Odisha during the 95th All India MCC Murugappa Gold Cup Hockey Tournament semifinals. | Photo Credit: VEDHAN M /THE HINDU

“I have never been called for a junior or senior national camp but this year, I do have a lot of hope because I have been performing consistently for the last three-four years,” said Joginder, who worked on a contractual basis for Air India till 2021 before being recruited by Central Railways in Mumbai.

Joginder, the son of a labourer, hails from Hisar in Haryana. The youngest of three siblings, he first picked up a hockey stick in the eighth standard after being encouraged by his elder brother Ravinder.

Joginder mentioned that Ravinder was a hockey player himself but had to give up the sport to support the family. “He wants to fulfil his dream of playing for the country through me,” he said.

Ravinder sent Joginder to Jarkhar Hockey Academy in Ludhiana, Punjab, in 2012 where he passed the selection trials and got to train under coaches Harminder Pal Singh and Gurstinder Singh Pargat.

Joginder mentioned that Ravinder had one more contribution in his career - teaching him how to drag flick. “My elder brother was also a drag-flicker. He taught me this as an extra skill. Forwards score a lot of goals but how to score as a defender?” he said.

Four of his six goals in Chennai have come from Penalty Corners (PCs), including two against Odisha. Perhaps, it is also due to hours and hours spent on watching drag-flicking clips of former India internationals Rupinder Pal Singh and V.R. Raghunath as well as Belgium’s Alexander Hendrickx.

This year, for Joginder, it has mostly been about observing the style of national skipper Harmanpreet Singh due to his exploits at the Olympics and the Asian Champions Trophy.

Joginder also gained some valuable overseas experience last year when he played for Melbourne Sikhs United club in Hockey Victoria’s Men’s Vic League 1 competition. While he emerged as the joint-top scorer with 20 goals in 19 games, he got the opportunity to learn more about his primary duty as a defender.

“It was my first tour and I met coach Waseem Ahmad, a Pakistani Olympian who played more than 400 matches for his country. I trained with him for three months and being a defender himself, he taught me a lot. Playing with Australian players helped me too,” he said.

RSPB coach Sunil Kumar Singh feels that Joginder, who also scored four goals at the recent Inter-Department National Championships, is on the right track but there is scope for improvement.

“To make it to the national camp, he has to work more on tackling and PCs. Drag-flicks can become better. He has the force and the technique. If he works harder, he will definitely get a chance,” Sunil said.

Stronger performances for Railways and Haryana in the upcoming Surjit Memorial Hockey Tournament and the Senior National Championships, respectively could help Joginder get that elusive maiden call-up to the national camp and perhaps, pop up amongst the top Google search results.