It is a wonder that Pakistan has the best penalty stroke specialist in the world. Penalty stroke specialist is a person who is well-versed and experienced in penalty corner and penalty goal in the field of hockey. Penalty stroke is referred to as a flick, PS or a stroke. It is rewarded when the defender commits a purposeful foul in the circle that denies an attacker of the chance to play the ball when any infringement averts a possible goal or when the defender repeatedly breaks or begins to run from the backline even before the penalty corner has been initiated.

Sohail Abbas, a Pakistani is the best of the penalty stroke specialists in field hockey. He holds the world record for the highest number of goals scored in the world hockey competition. When he stepped into this field during the 7th Pakistan –India series in 1998, his task was to come for the penalty corner drills. He even failed to score in the beginning in three penalty corners. But, then he proved and showed off in the international scene, achieving a drag flick from the penalty corner which earned the named match-winner in Pakistan’s 2-1 victory. He became an expert and specialist when he surpassed the 22-year-old record of Dutch penalty corner specialist Paul Litjens.

Penalty stroke holds an important part in hockey and it gained more importance after the prologue of artificial turf. Former penalty stroke specialists such as Michael Peters, Ties Kruize and Paul Litjens became experts in this field due to hours of practice perfecting the skill of the game. This made them lead the line whilst other players. The irregular bounce and the unpredictable nature of the ball were restructured after the introduction of artificial turf. Therefore the increase of penalty corner specialists in the 80s and 90s which includes Jay Stacy, Floris Jan Bovelander, Khalid Bashir, Carsten Fischer, Seong Seo Kim, Jim Irvine and Craig Davies who had largely won due to the regular bounce and predictability of the surface.

With the introduction of drag flick in the game, the players who were basically hard hitters of the ball, this skill helped them counter the goal keepers who lie down during a hit. This new proficiency developed new exponents in the game that made players like Sohail Abbas (Pakistan), Taco van den Honert, Sandeep Singh, Florian Kunz, Christopher Zeller, Jorge Lombi, Hayden Shaw and Calum Giles excel in this new lethal skill. These specialists have the special ability to whip the ball at a speed of 120 km per hour. This method seemed to be the most favored way to score on penalty corners.

Today, Pakistan’s penalty stroke specialist, Sohail Abbas seems to be the best of the best in this hockey business. He retired from the field for awhile and now has been recalled to the Pakistan team in April this year for the Asian games. This extremely gifted player remains a lurking threat for his rivals and a great source of endless joy for the fans and hockey lovers.