The victorious Indian hockey team on Monday dedicated the Asia Cup to penalty-corner specialist Jugraj Singh, who is recovering from multiple fractures at a hospital in New Delhi.
Indian Hockey Federation secretary K Jothikumaran told reporters in Chennai that "the victorious team members have dedicated the Cup to Jugraj Singh".
"We are going to meet him along with Federation president K P S Gill and other officials tomorrow morning with the Cup. We are grateful to the young boy for inspiring our players every day including yesterday, before we took to the final match against Pakistan. We all pray for his quick recovery and return to the hockey field at the earliest," Jothikumaran said.
"We missed Jugraj Singh. He always used to be a motivator and a good defender. We mainly missed him for his superb drag flicks," coach Rajinder Singh said.
Mercurial forward and team captain Dhanraj Pillay is also looking forward to meeting Jugraj. "All my players played this tournament for Jugraj. We are all going to see him tomorrow.
"Each and every member of the team decided to dedicate this Cup to him before we left for Malaysia. Jugraj wanted us to win all the matches and he was talking to us regularly.
"Yesterday also he spoke to all senior players and coaches. Really, we played our hearts out to win this Cup, so that Jugraj could be happy. We pray that he should be back on the field soon for our country," he said.
