Kasandi. A dusty, nondescript village, about 60 km from Delhi, came alive on Sunday, the 23rd September, 2007, with a match between two hockey centre teams, to mark the occasion of forming the Hockey Centre No.3 in the same Sonipat District.

For the around 500 locals, the match provided a rich fare, and then a Kabbadi and a race for veterans too were held, to keep them engaged, even as an village elder gave a running commentary of everythng that took place in the 6-acre new ground, which till recently was a porompoke ground. The playing surface was replete with pits and falls, but who cares. Despite initial watering and pressering, the dust could not be held check for long, as mounds of it rose around the fast players, who are bundle of energy, with enthusiasm to excel before the elders.

Kasandi is the another of a legacy former World Cup player Rajesh Chauhan commenced six years ago in his village Bawana. Faithful to hockey, the present coach of the Indian Junior team, opened the first centre in his village. It was a successful venture.

The next centre was opened at Khurad, which produced a couple players who are now playing for Air India Academy. The Kurad Centre is ably coached by Naresh Antil, who was present at Kasandi on Sunday

The whole show at Kasandi has been product of two entititles, both self funded, namely Jai Bharat Sports and Welfare Society, of which Rajesh Chauhan is the kingpin, the other being Mathruboomi Hockey Committee. An Indian Railway’s officer, Vikram Dahiya, is the energy engine of the mathrubumi organization. Both have joined hands to promote sports at Kasandi.

One reason why they chose Kasandi is the support given by the village panchayat people. They not only spared about 6-acre land for sports ground usage, but also constructed a small dwelling unit at the far end of the ground to house coach, whenver he would come, and store sports equipment.

If one analyses career profile of Indian hockey players, present and past, it could easily be found out most of them hail from such remote areas only. They all had to move to near by town or city, if they have to pursue hockey. Which means hell lot of hurdles. When such a facility is made available at village itself, there cannot be nothing solid in the development of sports. This is exactly the concept behind the Kasandi expansion.

The Kasandi panchayat is headed by a women (her picture is given at the last image of this section), who however could not be present on the occasion, but we all could meet her at her home, where most of the invited guests were treated to a tasty lunch. She had a healthy discussion with all of us, and proposed many other things that would go a long way in promoting sports in her area.

Rajesh Chauhan and his friends are practical, and in their unmitigated enthusism to go ahead with their plans, always forge a synergy with the government officials, (Pic above shows Rajesh Chauhan paying respect to SDM Mr. Mann) without whose support it would be next to impossible to put in place any worthy programme in such remote areas. SDM, Panchayat officials, known coaches, and a bulk of mediamen from Delhi were thoughtfully invited for the occasion. His approach of taking everyone together in realizing mass oriented programmes has been appreciated by everyone who chose to spend their day at Kasandi.

One might see the uneven ground, and the mass of dust it create in the wake of players’ stretch. Some times, as inthe images would vouchsafe, dust engulfed the players. But these did not count for the two teams who assmbled there. They had a competitive match for restricted time schedule and the contest, more symbolic than for any other purpose, gave a clue what are the necessary things that need to be put in place in order to develop a hockey centre. The goal cage used there was done locally.

MK Kaushik, who never misses such a grass root effort, was also present. His goldmedal exploits and a matching glorious coaching career were explained to the people by the gift of the gab Vikram Dahiya. Kaushik was asked to present one of the cash awards to the winners of Veteran Race, held amidst much fun on the same ground as a grand finale to the evening. (Pic above is Khurad team)

SDM of Sonipat Shri Mann was the dignitary present for the whole length of the programme. That he is man of action could be made o