Hockey ‘backbone’ fights fractures

Hockey writers describe Jugraj Singh as a dual-use player, who can both score off penalty corners and defend them. His teammates have a simp...

Hockey writers describe Jugraj Singh as a dual-use player, who can both score off penalty corners and defend them. His teammates have a simpler definition: ‘‘He is the backbone of the team, who never flinches from any challenge and loves to shoulder responsibilities’’, as his close friend Deepak Thakur put it.

Today, the Indian team began working out how to share those responsibilities after hearing of Jugraj’s accident on a Punjab highway on Tuesday night. The 20-year-old — who underwent three operations over eight hours for multiple fractures to his arm, thigh and pelvis — will be out for at least eight months,

a crucial period in which India will attempt to qualify for the Olympic Games in Athens.

If news of the accident shook the world of Indian sport, just recovering from the Leander Paes lesion scare, it has brought the hockey team closer together; most of them, including chief coach Rajinder Singh, rushed to Ludhiana as soon as they heard of it. Team captain Dhanraj Pillay reached the hospital late at night from Delhi.

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Earlier in the day, Thakur and Gagan Ajit Singh drove in from Ferozepur and Una (Himachal Pradesh); with Jugraj, they formed the three players in India’s penalty corner triangle. ‘‘It was not just the high spirits he displayed on the field, Jugraj was our trump card — he could score goals for us even in last moments of a match. His absence will hurt us deeply’’, said his usual roommate Thakur.

Gagan Ajit, who along with Jugraj had led India to that memorable 7-4 win over Pakistan at Amstelveen, said the injury was a disaster for the team.

The 20-year-old had reached this level of popularity in a very short time. He made his international debut last year at a four-nation tournament in Amsterdam but cemented his place by perfecting the drag-flick. While Thakur took the push and Gagan stopped the ball and set up the shot, Jugraj used his power to flick the ball into the net.

But he won’t be missed just for his flicks; he’s also someone who stands up for his teammates when things go wrong. Midfielder Viren Rasquinha recalls that during the Australia tour in June, when Indian won one tournament, the team conceded a penalty-corner due to his mistakes in the last stage of the match but Jugraj stood by him.

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‘‘Normally, players lose their temper under similar circumstances but Jugraj was composed and he came and told me, ‘Don’t worry, we will defend the penalty-corner.’’’