Namdharis play the numbers game
Five players turned out for champions Haryana and almost 10 others for different teams during the recently-concluded Senior Nationals
Vaibhav Sharma
Tribune News Service
When Haryana lifted the first Hockey India Senior National Championship title for men, there was a sense of amazement all over. People woke up to the fact that Haryana had all of a sudden turned into a hockey powerhouse for men. But the success of the team, was it developed? Was it part of some well-structured plan by the State? Or was it that the success of the women’s team was rubbing off on the men as well?
The reason was none of the above. What made Haryana, or for that matter many other sides, click this time were Indian hockey’s men in white — the Namdharis. Five Haryana players – Sardara Singh, Harpal Singh, Sher Singh, Gurmel Singh and Karamjit Singh — come from the Namdhari team or academy. They played a crucial part in Haryana winning a National title for the first time.
But their contribution to the Senior Nationals in not limited to one team only. There were two Namdhari players in the Punjab team – Harpreet Singh and Gurvinder Singh. There were five others who played for Combined Universities – Nanak Singh, Manpreet Singh, Gurvinder Singh Junior, Dhyan Singh and Harvinder Singh.
Additionally, Gurbhej Singh for Railways and Ajmer Singh for Air-India are also Namdhari products.
But while they dominate the hockey scene in the country, they have not been given the same recognition when it comes to the selection of the National team.
Didar Singh, former Olympian and head coach of the Namdharis, says “We have worked extremely hard to ensure that our boys reach this level and while we are clearly doing our bit for the sport, we somehow feel that the same has not been felt by the people at the helm of affairs as our numbers in the National camp too have dwindled.
“We don’t say that take us directly in the team, but I guess to be included in the camp is not unrealistic thinking,” Didar Singh adds.
Based at Bhaini Sahib Gurdwara near Ludhiana, the sect’s headquarters, the team has its own astro-turf and trains its budding stars there. They have nurseries at Guri Hari Singh Maha Vidyalaya – about 30km from Sirsa (Haryana) and they pick the best of the lot from there to train at their headquarters in Punjab.