New Delhi: It’s not possible to overlook Sam Ward on a hockey pitch. The skilled British ahead can simply be noticed wading previous opposition defenders as an skilled skater would glide on ice however what actually units the 33-year-old aside is his face masks.
Sam Ward will characterize UP Rudras on the upcoming HIL. (Frank Uijlenbroek)
The English drag-flicker sports activities the tools not as a part of vogue however to guard his eyes and higher face after a horrific harm left him blind in a single eye and nearly ended his profession.
It was the November of 2019 when Ward was hit by an 80kmph shot throughout an Olympic qualifier towards Malaysia. Whereas Ward’s brace took Nice Britain to Tokyo, it despatched him off the hockey pitch for a year-and-a-half.
Ward suffered facial fractures and a crushed retina which left him with out sight in his left eye. He underwent a number of surgical procedures with most consultants ruling out a return to the game. However Ward refused to surrender.
After recovering from his harm and surgical procedures, he restarted taking part in for English membership Previous Georgians in 2022. With no central imaginative and prescient in a single eye, Ward compensated together with his velocity on the pitch and abilities with the stick, pushing his limits.
His pure scoring talents and an unwavering will made the not possible occur in Might 2021 when he turned up carrying the white English jersey in a Professional League contest towards Germany. Two months later, he was additionally chosen for the Nice Britain squad for the Tokyo Olympics, marking one of the vital exceptional comeback tales in sport.
Armed with unbelievable willpower, Ward scored each as a striker and drag-flicker, cementing his place within the English squad.
At the moment, the top-scorer of the continued 2024-25 Professional League, Ward’s prowess within the circle and his capacity to be one of many deadliest strikers in open play, helped him get picked by Hockey India League (HIL) outfit UP Rudras for ₹20.6 lakh. Earlier this month, he scored 4 occasions in England’s 8-0 win over Eire within the Professional League.
“Getting to play with different players and coaches with different experiences, embracing the culture, all of that is going to be really exciting in the HIL. Getting to play with the likes of Hardik (Singh), Lalit (Upadhyay) and other internationals from Holland who won the Olympic gold like Lars Balk and Floris Wortelboer. It’s going to be amazing to play hockey with different people,” stated Ward, who made his worldwide debut in 2014.
“That’s the excitement of the league. You’ve got all these different playing styles and philosophies coming together to see how you can play. And then just being able to come over to India. I love it in India, love the culture, love the excitement. Just being able to showcase yourself in front of the fans will be pretty special.”
Ward has been a witness to the rise of Indian hockey for the reason that time they completed final on the 2012 London Olympics, when Ward watched from the stands, to successive Olympic bronze medals in Tokyo and Paris.
“The biggest thing that’s changed (about the Indian team) in the last 10 years is the work ethic. They work very hard together. They stick together and their team camaraderie is probably the massive difference to what it was 10 years ago,” Ward stated from his house in Leicester.
“That’s what’s really changed. They’ve always been excellent at hockey but now bringing the defensive side and hard work with it, they’ve just thrived and gotten better and better by doing that.”
India’s rise has additionally coincided with two of Ward’s most essential matches in his profession albeit on the shedding aspect. India knocked out Nice Britain in each the Tokyo and Paris Olympics from the quarter-finals with the latter being a heated but memorable assembly.
After a bodily first quarter in Paris on August 4, India’s main first-rusher Amit Rohidas was pink carded early within the second quarter. A ten-man India held Nice Britain to a 1-1 attract regulation time earlier than beating the Brits 4-2 within the shoot-out for an unforgettable victory.
“It’s one of those things. That game could have gone either way. The incident with the red card kind of spurred the Indian guys on. They stuck together. That’s the big thing I’ve been talking about. They just find a way through. (PR) Sreejesh obviously had one hell of a game and if you can’t get past the keeper, you’re not going to score. And the shootout, that’s a lottery. Unfortunately, it went the wrong way for us,” added the drag-flicker.
Whereas he’s relishing his likelihood to play within the HIL for the primary time, there’s a draw back too. “Well, my birthday is on Christmas Eve and obviously Christmas is big over here. So, the fiancé isn’t that impressed right now with the fact that I’m missing both of those. But it’s all part of the fun. She’s very supportive of my hockey,” he concluded.