When domestic tournament organizers convene press conference, the proceedings used to be routine rather than revealing. Exceptions are few and far between. One exception witnessed in this season might well go to the organizers of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Cup, fifth edition of which is starting in Delhi in a couple of days.

Major General (Rtd.) M.S. Buller, first outlined how Maharaja Ranjit Singh is comparatively better king than Napolean Bonapart, and why the former’s memory needs to be immortalized in the Indian psyche. “Ranjit Singh rose from the lower ranks, his empire was far wider in area than Bonapart’s, he never ordered killing of anybody in his long rule, and significantly he never lost a battle till his death. Contrarily, Bonapart lost many wars, and died as a prisoner’.

Ok. Points taken.

On hockey field, Bhuller lamented withdrawal of sponsorship by the Indian Airlines midway through the 5-year contract last year and reason attributed for that (we will start our own tournament) was heartbreaking. “We are soldiers, we never give up. So we went on and Oriental Bank came to our rescue”.

Oriental Bank of Commerce is the title sponsor for the present edition.

This year will see increase in prize money from Rs. 1 lac to 1.25 lac for the winners, Rs. 25,000 increase for the runners up, and also both losing semifinalsists each Rs. 20,000. There won’t be third and fourth place contests, as, according to Buller, “all the four teams that reach the semis are equal, and winning and losing thereafter is just matter of a single goal”.

In a novel way, this year many side awards will also be given away. Some thoughts have gone into the process. The player of the tournament will be given in the Name of Dhyan Chand, best half in the memory of Mohinder Lal, goalkeeper after Shankar Laxman, defender after Prithipal Singh, forward after Udham Singh. Best umpire of the tournament will also be rewarded and it will be in the memory of late Sardar Gian Singh, who umpired at two Olympics. Interestingly, no living legend has been considered for the honour. “Otherwise, Leslie Claudius would have deserved than anybody for the midfield honour”, Buller justified. He went on further on the reason behind the step:

“Hockey does not have much icons except Dhyan Chand. This is a popular view. However, we have enough of them like those mentioned above and many more. In fact, it’s media that makes icon. Be it Sachin Tendulkar or Saurav Ganguly, there many be many more and they will never become so unless and until media takes up in a big way”.

Ranjit Singh Tournament was started in 1976 at Amritsar and have to be stopped midway in the 80s as a casualty of Punjab terrorism.

It was revived by the Majaraja Ranjit Singh Society four years ago. Teams from Malaysia and Pakistan participated in the first year. Ranjit nowadays marks the near end of the domestic season in Delhi.

Former Olympians Raghubir Lal and Harbinder Singh were also present on the occasion. Also on the dais were Organizing Secretary and the 1975 World Cup hero HJS Chimni, Shiv Kumar Varma, the ever-green Secretary of the Nehru Tournament Society, Dr. Gurdeep Singh, Under Secretary, Association of Indian Universities, Charanjit Singh, Secretary, Delhi Hockey Association and Kuku Walia, noted umpire.

It would be nice if the orgnizers put out big bill boards of those icons after whose name the new awards will be given, for, younger generation may not have heard of or seen these legends. Hopefully, families of these legends know about the small honour heaped on their loved ones.

Captions:
Press conference under progress
Hockey legends Raghbir Lal and Harbinder Singh (right)
MS Buller, Org. Committee (left), HJS Chimni, Org. Secretary and Shiv Kumar Varma (right), veteran of Nehru Society on the dais.