K. ARUMUGAM
“Sports act as connecting bridge between two Nations”: Tauqeer Dar
“Good Omen to chronicle exploits of Charhda & Lehnda Punjab in a single volume”: Gurbhajan Singh Gill
“Both Punjabs to read masterpiece penned in Gurmukhi & Shahmukhi”: Abid Sherwani
Lahore, January 23: Popular field hockey doyens of Pakistan today unveiled a literary masterpiece entitled ‘Punj-Aab De Shah Aswaar’ penned by prolific writer Navdeep Singh Gill here at the University of Management and Technology (U.M.T.). The book unravels the life and times of sporting heroes of both Charhda and Lehnda regions of Punjab.
A panel discussion was also held during the course of the book release function at the invitation of Abid Sherwani, the UMT’s Director, who is also a reputed former hockey player. Former gems of Pakistani hockey viz. Olympic gold medallist Tauqeer Dar, World Cup winning team’s star & Olympic bronze medallist Tahir Zaman and Olympian Rehan Butt besides Ghulam Ghaus (Executive Director Asian Hockey Federation and Ex hockey player), took part in the deliberations. Famed athletics coach & son of legendary athlete Abdul Khaliq, Muhammad Ijaz termed this literary masterclass as a giant step forward n promoting goodwill and disseminating information about players of both Punjabs.
Panel discussion underway
Amongst those who released the work included Chairman, Punjabi Lok Virasat Academy Ludhiana Prof. Gurbhajan Singh Gill, former IPS officer and International level cyclist Amrit Kaur Gill, Ex-IPS and author Gurpreet Singh Toor, Patron Vishaw Punjabi Sabha Inderjit Singh Bal Toronto and Chief Engineer Gurbhajan Singh Gill.
Hockey Olympian Tauqeer Dar said that the medium of sports acts as a bridge connecting both the countries. Sharing his bond with the Indian hockey players, Mr. Dar added that he shared a deep connect with late hockey player Surjit Singh Randhawa. He was scheduled to visit India in 1984 to play in a friendly match arranged by Surjit Singh but the fate willed it otherwise as Surjit tragically passed away in an accident near Jalandhar soon after reaching India after holding talks with regard to organize the match. The Pakistani players were deeply grieved over the demise of Surjit.
Addressing the august gathering, Prof. Gurbhajan Singh Gill said that after the publication of this great work in Shahmukhi along with Gurmukhi language, the Pakistani sports lovers too would thoroughly enjoy reading the same. The young generation would derive immense inspiration on reading the life histories of the doyens of sporting arena, said Prof. Gill while elaborating on the facilities & scholarships given to the players by the UMT.
Disclosing more, Prof. Gurbhajan Singh Gill said that this Herculean effort calls for even greater appreciation which has chronicled the lives of Charhda and Lehnda Punjab players for the first time in a book form. The book contains the life stories of 15 top players each from both the Punjabs and is published both in Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi. While, Lokgeet Parkashan (Mohali) has published the book in Gurmukhi, the volume has been published in Shahmukhi by the Sanjha Virsa Institution courtesy Asif Raza.
This is the 14th book of journalist cum author Navdeep Singh Gill.
Author Navdeep Singh Gill describes about his work in the Lahore function
Detailing about his book, Author Navdeep Singh Gill divulged that he has included four hockey players from Lehnda Punjab namely Chaudhary Ghulam Rasool, Akhtar Rasool, Samiullah Khan and Shabaz Senior, Six cricketers viz. Fazal Mehmood, Inzaman ul Haq, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar and Babar Azam, Three athletes Abdul Khaliq, Ghulam Raziq and Arshad Nadeem, One wrestler the great Gama Pehalwan and Woman tennis star Ushna Sohail. He further explained that from amongst the players of Charhda Punjab, five hockey players Balbir Singh Senior, Prithi Pal Singh, Ajit Pal Singh, Roopa Saini and Harmanpreet Singh; four athletes Milkha Singh, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, Mohinder Singh Gill and Manjit Kaur, two wrestlers Dara Singh and Kartar Singh, two shooters Abhinav Bindra & Avneet Kaur Sidhu and one each of football (Jarnail Singh) and cricketer (Yuvraj Singh) are also covered elaboratively.
The former I.P.S. officer and author Gurpreet Singh Toor in his welcome address, introduced the members from India and said that the history of world hockey is incomplete without the mention of India-Pakistan. Among others present on the occasion included the Associate Director (Sports) of the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana Dr. Rupinder Kaur Toor and Sardarni Jaswinder Kaur Gill.