Rupinder Pal Singhਰੁਪਿੰਦਰ ਪਾਲ ਸਿੰਘ

Rupinder Pal Singh is an Indian field hockey defender from Faridkot, Punjab, known around the world as one of the finest drag-flickers of his generation. He played 223 matches for India between 2010 and 2021, won the Olympic bronze medal at Tokyo 2020, and received the Arjuna Award in 2021.

Where is Rupinder Pal Singh from?

Rupinder Pal Singh is from Faridkot, a city in the Malwa region of Punjab and the headquarters of Faridkot district. He was born there on 11 November 1990, into a Sikh family, as the youngest child of the household. Faridkot sits in the heart of Punjab's hockey country, and the game was part of daily life around him long before he ever wore an India shirt.

Early life

Rupinder took up hockey at the age of eleven. Money was tight at home, and his elder brother, once a promising state level player himself, gave up both his own hockey career and his education so that the family's limited means would not stand in Rupinder's way. The sport also ran in the wider family: he is a cousin of Gagan Ajit Singh, the former India player and Olympian.

His early training began at the Baba Shershah Wali academy in Firozpur, and he later moved to the Chandigarh Hockey Academy, where coaches Jasbir Singh Bajwa and O. P. Ahlawat shaped his game. He grew into a tall, powerfully built defender, 1.94 metres (6 feet 4 inches) in height, and teammates came to call him Bob, or Bobby. The height and reach that made him hard to beat in defence would later make him feared at penalty corners.

Career with India

Rupinder made his international debut in May 2010 at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia. A year later, in the same tournament, he scored his first international hat-trick, against Great Britain, and finished as the tournament's top scorer. India had found a new penalty corner weapon, and he soon became the first name coaches turned to when a short corner was won.

He was named vice-captain of India's 2014 World Cup squad, and the medals followed steadily: silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, gold at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, an Olympic appearance at Rio 2016, and bronze at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, with the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in between. At the 2016 Asian Champions Trophy he was both the tournament's top scorer, with 11 goals, and its best player.

His career was not a straight climb. A hamstring problem in 2017 kept him out for about six months, a spell he later described as the toughest phase of his life, and the younger Harmanpreet Singh took his chance in his absence. Rupinder fought his way back, and the two went on to form India's twin drag-flick threat, sharing penalty corner duties all the way to Tokyo.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics, played in 2021, were his crowning tournament. He scored four goals, including one in the bronze medal match as India beat Germany 5-4 to win the country's first Olympic hockey medal in 41 years. When he announced his retirement a month later, he had played 223 matches for India and scored 119 goals, as reported at the time.

What is Rupinder Pal Singh known for?

Rupinder is known first of all for the drag flick, the low, powerful shot from a penalty corner that is one of hockey's hardest skills to master. Standing tall over the ball, he could drive it flat and fast into the corners of the goal, and he mixed in clever variations and penalty strokes that kept goalkeepers guessing. Captains called on him whenever a match needed a goal from a set piece.

He was more than a set piece specialist. As a fullback he was a strong, fearless defender, and alongside V. R. Raghunath he formed a drag-flick partnership that gave India two lethal options from the same penalty corner. Opponents knew what was coming when India won a short corner, and still struggled to stop it.

Hockey India League and club hockey

In the Hockey India League, Rupinder played for the Delhi Waveriders from 2013 to 2017. He scored seven goals in the first season as Delhi finished runners-up, then seven more as the side won the title in 2014. He was named Player of the Tournament in 2016, when Delhi finished third, and captained the team in 2017, taking them to the semi-finals. In domestic hockey he also turned out for Indian Overseas Bank, the Chennai based bank side he represented for many years.

Honours and later life

Rupinder announced his retirement from international hockey in September 2021, a month after the Tokyo bronze, saying it was time to make way for young and talented players after 13 years in the India shirt. Two months later he received the Arjuna Award for 2021, presented by the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 13 November 2021, alongside his Olympic teammates.

Retirement did not hold for long. In May 2022 he came out of retirement and was named captain of India's squad for the Asia Cup in Jakarta, but a wrist injury picked up in training ruled him out of the tournament before it began, and Birendra Lakra led the side instead. He returned to league hockey in December 2024, when the Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers bought him for Rs 12.5 lakh in the Hockey India League auction. On 1 January 2025 he scored twice, from a penalty corner and a penalty stroke, as the Tigers beat Team Gonasika 2-1.

Legacy

Rupinder Pal Singh's career gave Faridkot an Olympic medallist and gave Punjab a model for the modern defender: tall, strong at the back, and deadly from penalty corners. His story, from a small Malwa city through injury and setbacks to the Olympic podium, is told to young players across Punjab as proof that the drag flick, practised until it becomes a habit, can change a match and a life.