How a brotherly figure inspired Karthi Selvam to pursue hockey and charted his comeback to the national team

Karthi, son of Selvam, who works as security at Ariyalur’s government college, started by dabbling with basketball and football at a ground close to his home. “One day I saw Ranjith anna play hockey, and that’s how my interest began in the sport. Whenever I have been down and facing struggles, I have had a lot of people help me. Shekar Manoharan (TN hockey), my coaches… but the one who has helped me the most is Ranjith Anna. He inspired me to take up the sport, and now he is a fan of mine,” Karthi tells The Indian Express. “He has helped me a lot. I have asked him for shoes for example. He is the first man I’d call even now if I need anything.”

Ranjith, 35, is now an IT professional at HCL Tech in Chennai. “He was among a bunch of kids who used to come up to us and talk about hockey when we took water breaks,” Ranjith tells this daily. “But it wasn’t much later, it struck me. One day, when we were watching a match at the YMCA in Chennai, Karthi (then in Class VIII) stood next to me and asked, ‘Anna you remember me?’ I started playing because of you.’ From there, to watch him play for India, and for him to say his journey started because of me, I feel like I have achieved something with my life.”

Ranjith comes from a hockey family. He has played at the national level, his father played for Indian Overseas Bank and his uncle played the sport too. Since hockey was not seen as a career option at a point in his life when he had to make a call, Ranjith ended up getting convinced to pursue engineering. “I had the passion for hockey, still do, but I couldn’t turn it into a career. One day recently, he sent me a message, ‘ungala la daan velayaduren. (I’m playing for you, bro.) I feel on top of the world,” Ranjith adds, sharing a screenshot that he has saved on his phone.

Karthi, who idolises Harmanpreet Singh, also had a good stint with Tamil Nadu Dragons in the Hockey India League, where he found another mentor, an Aussie star who knows a thing or two about scoring goals, especially against India. “I got to work closely with Blake Govers. He was impressed with my shooting skills, and that is a strength too, so he taught me about improving my grip on the stick and the impact point of striking the ball when it is on a downward trajectory.” Karthi’s comeback to the senior team has been driven by a focus on fitness and working off the ball, two areas that India coach Craig Fulton told him to improve. He had gained some weight once he went out of the team after the Asian Champions Trophy. Then Karthi went about working with dedicated training sessions at SAI Bengaluru.

“When we go on long drives to Chennai, we have numerous conversations about his game, where he is missing out, and how he can get better. Karthi improved his focus on maintaining his body weight, and on a drive, he’d say he doesn’t want to have a cup of tea because he is watching his sugar intake. He has learnt from some of the best coaches in the TN hostel system, so he knows how to work on his game. What we needed to do as a support group was to remind him to just keep trying,” Ranjith says.

Bittersweet moment

When Karthi played at ACT in Chennai, it was a special occasion for his coaches growing up. But for Ranjith, it was bittersweet. “My father fell ill at that time, so I had to come back to our hometown after letting Karthi know I wouldn’t be able to watch. There was a match against Malaysia, and my dad wanted to watch it. I went home, brought the laptop, and we watched it together on the hospital bed. Karthi scored a wonderful goal that night. ‘Dai super ah adichan da namma thambi. Excellent receive, super finish.’ My dad used to guide him whenever he came home too. And used to discuss a lot with me about his game. He died the next morning. That was the last hockey match he saw. But he was so proud that night,” Ranjith recalls.

The return to the squad is just a start. Karthi and Ranjith have the bigger picture in mind. “Our main target should be the Olympics,” Ranjith says. “Actually, sometimes I just randomly text him ‘Olympics’ at 11 pm before I go to sleep. He’d reply with a heart emoji. ‘Kandippa na, kandippa panrom’. (For sure, brother.) He understands it is not easy to make the cut for the Indian Olympic hockey team. It is just to remind him that we are running for something big.”