LUCKNOW, Sept. 11 -- Playing for the country is always the greatest thing for any sportsperson, and getting support at a crucial juncture lifts one's spirit and game to invincible levels. Indian hockey's key midfielder Rajkumar Pal got an experience of that support at the just-concluded Asia Cup at Rajgir, in Bihar, when he found half-a-dozen supporters in the form of his elder brother, coach and friends cheering him on and clapping for him before India outclassed South Korea 4-1 for their fourth title. "It was a big surprise for me as I didn't know about this before the final match. In fact, it was a pleasant surprise as this was for the first time when my elder brother, Jokhan Pal, watched me play live on a ground," said Rajkumar Pal, who scored a goal in India's 7-0 win over China. A comprehensive 4-1 win in the final against South Korea not only helped India win the title for the fourth time, but helped India qualify for next year's FIH World Cup. "That's the biggest achievement for India and now I dream to win the World Cup trophy too," said Pal on Wednesday on return to his home in Karampur in Ghazipur. Besides his brother, Jokhan, the ace midfielder Pal had the support of his academy's coach, Indradev, friend Uttam, owner of the Karampur Hockey Academy Aniket Singh, Anil and another friend Dhruv Singh, "When you have your own people around you, they inspire you to give your best and while playing in front of my own people, I was quite confident about my game in the final match," said Pal, who had a bronze medal in the Asia Cup in 2022 before winning a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. "After playing a match for India, I always think that it was a day when I never wanted to play hockey and it was my mother and brother, who forced me to continue playing hockey at Karampur," he said, adding, "My passion for sport grew up when I joined the SAI Hostel and got the support of my senior colleague at Karampur Hockey Academy in the form of Lalit Upadhyay and things changed dramatically for me." However, he said that he never felt bad for not scoring many goals in a match for India as his job is to handle the pressure in the midfield. "My job is to manage defence when the rivals are on attack, and feed the ball to our forwards whenever there is an opportunity," he said. "When I manage to stop a rival from scoring a goal, it means I have scored a goal on the rivals," added Pal, who has so far scored eight goals in his 85 international appearances for India. Pal, who has been in the national camp since 2018, got to play his first match for India in 2000, and after spending five regular years with the top guns of the side, he has been enjoying his role. "Everyone in the Indian team is very supportive, the coach is fantastic and everyone else is quite helpful," said Pal, who will now be joining the national camp at Bengaluru in the last week of this month. Pal's coach, Indradev, was too excited to see his ward dazzling for India in Rajgir during the Asia Cup. "It was the first time for me to see Rajkumar playing for India, and I chose to see him as it was not far away from Karampur," said Indradev, who feels proud to be recognised as the coach of Rajkumar and Uttam, another regular in the Indian side in the recent past. Aniket Singh, who runs the Karampur Hockey Academy, was watching Rajkumar play for the second time for India, said that it was a proud moment for him as well as all the trainees at the academy when Indian lifted the glittering trophy and Rajkumar was part of the side. "It was really a proud moment for Karampur and for us as it was our own Rajkumar posing with winners trophy and gold medal around his neck, Rajkumar's success will boost the confidence of our academy's trainees," he said, adding, "In fact, by running the activities at hockey academy in Karampur, I am trying to fulfill the dream of my "Tau Ji" who was instrumental in developing this centre....