Penalty corner

There are particular rules for that only apply at penalty corners and players develop specialist skills, such as the drag flick, for this particular phase in the game.

[5][6] Litjens and early specialists were accurate, hard-hitters of the ball; however, the introduction of the drag flick to counter the goalkeepers that lie down during the hit became the favoured technique.

This led to the introduction of experts in this skill and Litjens' record was surpassed by Pakistani player Sohail Abbas who is often described as the "world's best" penalty corner and drag flick specialist.

[15] However, as of September 2014[update], an intended rule change will give a 40-second timeout for a penalty corner.

Another player will take the stopped ball and push or drag it back into the circle before attempting to shoot at goal (as per normal rules, the ball must be last played by an attacking player within the shooting circle for a goal to count[20]).

Conversely, it does not matter that the ball travels above 460 mm in its flight, provided it does not constitute dangerous play, so long as it drops below 460 mm under its own accord (i.e. not as a result of a deflection) before crossing the goal line, it is still counted as a goal.

[24] In 1998, the location where the ball was injected was metricised to at least 10 metres from the goal post (as opposed to the previous rule which stated it must be at least 10 yards); a specific mark inside the circle was introduced in 2000.

This rule caused the development of specialist penalty corner takers who just came on for this and was abolished three years later.