Hindustan Times: Junior Asia Hockey Tournament: Harmanpreet’s goals made India’s win easy

Trained from Jalandhar-based Surjit Hockey Academy, Harmanpreet Singh emerged a stalwart and main protagonist in the Indian hockey team with India beating Pakistan 6-2 in the 8th junior men’s Asia Cup hockey tournament at Kuantan in Malaysia on Sunday.

Harmanpreet, who is a DAV College student, belongs to Gurdaspur and was declared as the best scorer with four goals in the final and 15 goals in the tournament. He was felicitated as the best player.
India, Korea, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Japan, China, Oman and Malaysia had participated in the tournament with India and Pakistan reaching finals.

Apart from Harmanjeet Singh, five players from the Surjit Hockey Academy played in Indian team, namely, Harjeet Singh (captain), Varun Kumar, Vikramjeet Singh, Mandeep Singh and Gurjant Singh. All players have been trained by Avtar Singh, a coach, at the in Hockey Academy.

A proud Avtar Singh said, “The nation is proud of players. I have no words to explain how I am feeling right now. I have been flooded with congratulatory calls since the results of finals came out. The academy aims to give best players to the country.”

“All players are very dedicated and I see a very bright future for them. I have been giving training to Harmanpreet since two years, I have seen his positive growth. I am overwhelmed,” an elated Avtar Singh said.
Harjeet Singh, Varun Kumar, Gurjant Singh are the students of DAV College.

Head of department of physical education, DAV College, Manu Sood, said that it is great to see the revival of hockey in India.

“We are proud of the students of the College as they have made the country proud. We always make sure that we provide every kind of facility to them. They are the stars of the nation,” said Sood.