THE TERMINATOR
Nardev Singh, a driver with the Punjab Government's Agriculture Department, had to do something. His son wanted a hockey stick. So he looked, and he found one, and as Deepak Thakur recalls, "When I was 12, I got my first stick. A borrowed one." It was enough.

If Indian hockey is scraping the bottom, bereft of imagination and talent, the driver's son offers some hope. Just into the Indian team, he's turning heads with his pace (the fastest after Dhanraj Pillai), his eye for the ball (just see him deflect the ball from any angle into goal) and his all-round moves (centre forward, inside right, inside left, he can play them all).

His attitude is keen. The day we met him he skipped breakfast, grabbed a few bananas and ran off, saying, "Practice is more important." He's concentrating on the 2000 Olympics now. "I want to shine at Sydney," he says.

He also has a role model -- Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator. So when you see him scythe through the field you can understand why.