KAUR Gurjit

General
DEVELOPMENT
She was India's top scorer at the 2017 Asia Cup in Kakamigahara, Japan, finishing the competition with eight goals. She put her success down to changes she made to her drag-flicking technique after working with Dutch coach Toon Siepman ahead of the tournament. "I think learning the drag-flicking technique properly has been the turning point of my career. You need something special to play for the Indian team. I used to try drag-flicks before but I wasn't much aware about it. During my school and college days, it was just about trying to copy what I had seen in various videos. But the initial years in the national camp helped me learn the basics, techniques, what's different, what's not different. So I decided to make it my x-factor. With Siepman, I corrected the basics like keeping my head up, how to turn my body and the stepping during the drag-flicking process. These were minor changes, but I had never realised earlier that I was doing it incorrectly. He told me, 'Just make these small changes and you can become the best drag-flicker in the world.' I keep that in mind every time I work on drag-flicking." (tribuneindia.com, 12 Nov 2017; olympics.com, 25 Oct 2020; sportsindiashow.com, 24 Aug 2020)