“This year has been an absolute roller coaster ride,” says hockey player Suraj Karkera
In June this year, the men and women hockey core probable groups were allowed to return home after a series of nationwide lockdowns to be with their families. However, goalkeeper Suraj Karkera chose to stay back in SAI, Bengaluru.
The 24-year-old hails from Mumbai where the number of COVID-19 positive cases were high at that time. Keeping that in mind the young player chose to stay back than go home to be with his family.
“After thinking about our safety, my parents and I decided that it’s best for me to stay back here, even though my teammates had decided to leave. It’s been challenging without my teammates, but they all have been staying connected with me through phone calls,” he said in a statement, as quoted by ANI.
Back in June, he had said, “It is tough not to be with them (my loved ones) during this time. But the main thing for me and my family is to stay safe and healthy and that matters.”
Unfortunately for Karkera, when his teammates returned to the camp in August after a six-week break, he had to be admitted to the hospital for dengue.
“This year has been an absolute roller coaster ride. I had decided to stay back in SAI because I felt traveling to Mumbai was not safe for me as it had too many cases of Covid-19. But as fate would have it, I got dengue just when we were getting together to restart the camp. It has since been a steady road to recovery and full fitness,” he further said.
Karkera was part of the Indian team that won bronze in the 2017 Hockey World League Final and the one that won gold in the Asia Cup in Dhaka in the same year.
Karkera feels fortuante to have had the coaching staff to support him through this period.
“When I was alone in the hostel, I was constantly checked on by our chief coach and scientific advisor. It has not been easy for them either to have not seen their families back home for more than ten months now, so there used to be a lot of talks about being resilient and at times, we would also talk about Graham’s playing days. He has a lot of interesting stories to share with us, and they are all quite inspiring. I personally feel this year has taught us a lot in terms of ‘anything can happen in life’ and we need to be mentally strong to face it,” he said.
“My focus now is to improve my skill, footwork and timing to be ready for the next assignment,” says Suraj Karkera
Suraj Karkera’s primary focus now is to make the most of his time with hockey stalwarts like PR Sreejesh, SV Sunil, Akashdeep Singh, Manpreet Singh to improve as a goalkeeper.
“I feel fortunate to have been in the national coaching camp with stalwart players including someone like Sardar Singh who had so much experience. Now with senior players like Sreejesh, Manpreet, Sunil, Akashdeep etc around, there is a lot that I learn from them. They are constantly guiding me on the field and off it. My focus now is to improve my skill, footwork and timing to be ready for the next assignment and be in the reckoning for team selection,” he added.
Also Read: Karkera left alone at SAI Bengaluru due to rising cases of COVID-19
FS Desk
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