Three weeks after sustaining a gunshot wound, Indian hockey ace Sandeep Singh was on Saturday discharged from a government hospital in Chandigarh and will now travel to Holland next month for physiotherapy.
The 21-year-old drag-flick expert, who sustained the injury in the lower back, in what is believed to be accidental firing from the gun of a Railway Protection Force policeman, while travelling on the Shatabdi Express from Ambala to New Delhi on August 22, looked relaxed and cheerful at the while being discharged from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) hospital.
"I want to forget it (injury) as a bad dream. I am feeling good now," the drag-flicker told reporters.
"What I am feeling now is similar to the one which one has after tasting a victory," he added.
He also revealed that on the International Hockey Federation's (FIH) advice to IHF president K P S Gill, he would be going to Holland "where physiotherapists who are specialists in dealing with injuries to hockey players would treat me"
"The IHF and ESPN have agreed to bear my expenses," he added.
Asked when he could start playing again, he said he hopes to be fit by mid-October to play in the Dutch league and then in the forthcoming Asian Games.
"Though doctors have advised me some more rest before I start walking again, I know I have the will power to be up on my legs again very soon," he said.
More from rediff