With five goals to his name in just three matches at the ongoing FIH Odisha Hockey Men's Junior World Cup Bhubaneswar 2021, Araijeet Singh Hundal has grabbed the attention of hockey buffs with his impressive performance.
The lanky lad from Amritsar is quick on his feet as a forward and as one of the four penalty corner specialists in the Indian Junior side, Hundal has proved his mettle with powerful drag flicks in crunch situations to help his side. His hat-trick of goals in India's 13-1 win against Canada even earned him the Player of the Match title.
Next up in the quarter-final, the hosts will take on a highly competitive Belgium in what could be a repeat of the 2016 Junior World Cup Final in Lucknow where India had emerged victorious.
Oblivious of the significance of that epic match in Bhubaneswar that changed the lives of many rising stars in both Belgium and the Indian team, Araijeet Hundal just wants to focus on the match on 1st December without going into past results.
"I was just 12 years old when the 2016 Junior World Cup was held in Lucknow and I don't know too many details of that tournament but of course now I am aware of how that tournament changed many players lives," said Araijeet in a Hockey India release.
"Although I picked up the hockey stick at a very young age because of my father (Kuljeet Singh) who used to play hockey for the Railways and was even part of the India camp in 1999, I began serious practice only in 2015-2016," he said.
Araijeet made his first appearance in the domestic circuit when he played for Punjab & Sindh Bank at the Hockey India Junior Men National Championship in Bhopal, 2018. Following yet another impressive outing for his team at the Hockey India Junior Men National Championship in Aurangabad, 2019, Araijeet was called-up for the National Camp for Juniors in SAI, Bengaluru.
( With inputs from ANI )
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