Lalremsiami ushers in new vigour in Indian women’s hockey team PC defence

While Siami will look to score more such goals during the upcoming World Cup to be played in Spain and the Netherlands from July 1-17, the Indian team will also be hoping that she continues her good show as a first rusher while defending penalty corners during the tournament. Being a first rusher is one of the toughest jobs on the hockey field where the players have to run full throttle at the line of the ball which is hit at speeds exceeding 100 kmph at times during penalty corners. It is risky and players do get hurt at times.

But Siami has been doing it quite well for a while now, without any fear. Asked what made her take up the role, the player from Mizoram said, “One day before the Olympic qualifiers during a training session in Bengaluru, I wanted to see how it feels to be a first rusher. So, I tried it and quite liked it and have been doing it since then.” However, it’s not only about blindly running towards the ball, a lot of planning goes into defending it.

“Every team has very good PC routines, so we must prepare accordingly. All the PC defenders hold extensive meetings with the coach, and everything is planned beforehand,” said Siami during an interaction with TOI from the Netherlands. “We analyse who will be the PC taker, who will be trapping the ball and who will be the pusher from the opponent team.

Depending on all the minute details we decide on how we will be running and defending it.” Despite all the planning, it all comes down to the players on the field at that moment and this is where captain and goalkeeper Savita comes in. “Savita didi is always very calm and she is very helpful on the field. At times, even if I forget who will be taking the PC, she reminds me the jersey number of the