In a country even many States do not have single synthetic turf, even top universities such as Kolkata, Madras, Bombay, Bangalore and Delhi join this no-turf group, here comes a school to creates a history of sort.
Yes, Khalsa English School, Bhawanipore in Kolkata, has just laid a synthetic turf in its premises.
It will be inaugurated tomorrow amidst the presence of many former Olympians.
The great school that produced a star hockey player in Baljit Singh Saini(1996 and 2000 Olympics), among others, has just managed to procure and lay a turf for its students’ use.
By venturing to accomplish this, the school has created a history of sort — first school in India to have a synthetic turf on its own backyard.
The sweet development is significant in the sense that the metro city of Kolkata, once the cradle and power centre of Indian hockey — who can forget the pioneer role played by Pankaj Gupta in India’s first three Olympics Golds — will lead to many other schools in the country to follow suit.
A small school in Shahbad, Haryana, has a turf but that was laid by the Govt for developing women’s hockey in particular.
In the Colonial era, its Bengal that acted as nerve centre of Indian hockey. The first tournament of India, Beighton Cup, was also held in Kolkata.
First National Championship, then called Inter-provincial Championship, was also held in the same city.
Its Bengal that helped Indian Hockey Federation with adequate finances to sail Indian teams for the first three Olympics.
The historical city, where legends like Lesli Claudius — first in the world to figure in four Olympics, and win a medal in all — lives, has given something to cheer about.
Olympians Dhanraj Pillay, Md. Riaz, and others besides Schools’ hero Baljit Singh (under whose captaincy India reached the finals of the Junior World Cup for the first time in 1997) are expected to play an exhibition match.