In a recent interaction with PTI, the 26-year-old striker from Sonipat shared that his early hockey mentor, Shamsher Dahiya, was a passionate Messi supporter who tried to shape his game in the image of the Argentine playmaker. However, Abhishek gravitated toward Ronaldo’s playing style and mentality
Cristiano Ronaldo (Pic: File Pic)
Indian men’s hockey team striker Abhishek Nain opened up about his admiration for legendary Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, citing the football icon’s influence on his playing style and mindset, despite his childhood coach wanting him to emulate Lionel Messi.
In a recent interaction with PTI, the 26-year-old striker from Sonipat shared that his early hockey mentor, Shamsher Dahiya, was a passionate Messi supporter who tried to shape his game in the image of the Argentine playmaker. However, Abhishek gravitated toward Ronaldo’s playing style and mentality.
"I watch all his matches from which I learn about scoring, positioning, timing and shooting," he said.
Nain explained that even though he plays hockey, Ronaldo’s game offers valuable lessons, particularly due to the shared nature of both sports.
"Both football and hockey are team sports and are played with the ball. The whole game is about running and endurance in which positioning is very important and Ronaldo is my inspiration for this," he said.
Nain was recently awarded the 'Player of the tournament' for the just-concluded Hockey Asia Cup 2025 in Rajgir, where he had scored six goals. Reflecting on his standout performance, he admitted that while he expected the tournament to be special, he hadn’t anticipated emerging as the top player. "I had a feeling from within that this tournament (Asia Cup) would be something special, but I did not think that I would become the player-of-the-tournament," he said.
India’s win in the Asia Cup also secured them a spot in the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2026, set to be co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands from August 14 to 30 next year.
Currently serving as a Senior Manager at Punjab National Bank, Nain is determined to help end India’s 50-year title drought at the World Cup. "We have not won the World Cup for 50 years and I think this team can win because we have defeated top teams. We just have to work on consistency because in some matches we play very well and in some we play poorly," he said.
Nain was also a member of the Indian team that won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics and gold at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
(With PTI inputs)
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
