| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 30 March 1999 Hurhuru-Patratu, Hazaribagh, Bihar (now in Jharkhand), India | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Indian Oil | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Caps | Goals | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015–2020 | India U21 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016– | India | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last updated on: 26 May 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Pankaj Kumar Rajak (born 30 March 1999) is an Indian field hockey player who plays as a goalkeeper. He was a member of the Indian national team that won the silver medal at the 2016 South Asian Games. [1]
Rajak hails from Hurhuru-Patratu, a village in the Hazaribagh district of India's State of Jharkhand (then a part of Bihar). His father Dadan Prasad Rajak is a washerman. Pankaj Kumar is the youngest among four siblings. [2]
Rajak enrolled in the Hazaribagh Day Boarding Centre in 2009 and was suggested to take up goalkeeping by his first coach Koleshwar Gope. Rajak trained there till 2012 before moving to Sports Authority of India, Ranchi where he stayed till 2014. He was a part of the Jharkhand squad in 2013 and 2014 for the sub-junior national championships. He subsequently moved to SAIL Hockey Academy in Rourkela, where he was picked for the under-21 national team that competed at the Volve Hockey Open Cup the following year in England. Rajak then played at the 2016 South Asian Games and won silver with the under-21 team that India fielded for the Games. He also featured in the squads that won gold at the Under-18 Asia Cup and bronze at the Under-21 Sultan of Johor Cup during this time. In the club level, he plays for his employer Indian Oil. [2]
In May 2022, Rajak was named in the 20-member squad for the Asia Cup. [3]
Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It is the 15th largest state by area, and the 14th largest by population. Hindi is the official language of the state. The city of Ranchi is its capital and Dumka its sub-capital. The state is known for its waterfalls, hills and holy places; Baidyanath Dham, Parasnath, Dewri and Rajrappa are major religious sites. Jharkhand is primarily rural, with about 24% of its population living in cities as of 2011.
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